Southampton make a return to Premier League action after a three week absence as they make the trip to the London Stadium to face an out of sorts West Ham United this weekend.
The match is the first at the stadium since the problematic incidents in the Hammers’ most recent home game against Burnley, which saw 20 fans given life bans.
This is the Saints first game in the competition since an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United in Mauricio Pellegrino’s final game in charge.
The Saints most recent game in all competitions was a 2-0 win up at Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup which sent them to Wembley.
As for the hosts they have been at a Miami training camp as they haven’t played since the 3-0 defeat at the hands of Burnley.
The two sides come into the game with just two points and one place separating them in the table and a win for either side would go a long way in preserving their respective status in the division.
The hosts come into the game in poor form having collected just three points out of their last five league matches.
As for the Saints, they have claimed one win, two draws and two defeats in that timeframe.
Whilst it was only Wigan for the Saints last time out, they were much improved against the Latics in Mark Hughes first game in charge.
If Hughes’ side were to taste defeat in this one, it would most likely be the final nail in the Saints’ coffin, with encounters with Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester City to come in their next three games.
The two sides met earlier in the season and the Saints claimed a last gasp victory thanks to a penalty from Charlie Austin, whilst Manolo Gabbiadini and Dusan Tadic were also on the scoresheet.
Saints new boss Hughes, has sat down and spoken to the media this week ahead of his first Premier League game in charge of the club, insisting that he is looking to gain some momentum. Speaking the club’s official website, he said;
We got some more ideas across in terms of how I want us to approach games and hopefully that’ll be better embedded now given the time we’ve had together as a group.
Clearly not everyone has been back, but everyone was available to train on Thursday and Friday so that’s key leading into the game.
He continued and added that he wants his side to start off from where they left off in their last encounter with Wigan two weeks ago, saying;
It was important that we continued in the same vein. We had a good positive result against Wigan, which was important for the group in terms of confidence.
I sense that there was a little bit of a weight lifted from their shoulders given the second-half performance certainly where we looked a confident side and were able to win the game more importantly.
We’re hoping that those memories and those feelings will enhance our ability to get a good result because we’re looking for momentum.
In terms of team news, the club are set to welcome back Charlie Austin and Steven Davis from long-term injuries whilst Ryan Bertrand is set to be involved after pulling out of the England squad last week.
As for the Hammers, they continue to be without Pedro Obiang and Winston Reid whilst James Collins and Manuel Lanzini will both face late fitness tests to discover how much they can participate in the game.
I expect this to be a very tight game between two sides in very poor form and can’t see it being a game which has too much quality on show.
I think that the Saints will just edge this one 2-1.
