With Charlie Austin proving himself to be such a crucial player for the squad in Southampton’s first continental match against Sparta Prague, how will the Saints cope without the forward who has been responsible for five of the 11 goals in all competitions this season so far?
In yesterday’s press conference, boss Claude Puel revealed that he has not only left players such as Charlie Austin, Steven Davis, Ryan Bertrand and skipper Jose Fonte from the bench, but left them in England to rest ahead of an away game to Leicester City, just 72 hours later.
So this poses the question, who will Puel play in replacement for the four players who play almost week in, week out when fully fit?
With youngsters Jake Hesketh and James Ward-Prowse both scoring respectively in the Saints’ last two fixtures, have they gained themselves a place in the squad that fights to remain at the top of the Group K table?
With all things considered, my starting line-up would be as follows:
Forster, Cedric, van Dijk, Yoshida, Targett, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Tadic, Redmond, Long.
With so many solid players not considered, does this suggest that Puel is not taking the Europa League as seriously as fans may like? Does he think this will be an easy win? Which would be foolish after Hapoel walked away from their first fixture away to Inter Milan with a strong 2-0 win.
After being (very happily) proved wrong with my 1-1 prediction against Sparta, I will play it safe but with confidence in a 0-1 prediction, following our four-game clean sheet run and performances recently.
Can we make it five in five? Vote in the poll below!
