The Premier League is back!
An incredible 104 days will have passed between Southampton’s last competitive match, a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle, and the kick-off of their next fixture, a trip to Norwich City on Friday night.
There are nine Premier League games left to play over the coming weeks for Saints, who are currently sat in 14th place, seven points clear of the relegation zone and five points off the top half.
Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Shane Long is a doubt to feature at Carrow Road while Moussa Djenepo, who may hold the record for the longest time taken to serve a standard three-match suspension following his red card in Saints’ last match, is also out.
The gaffer also told the media that James Ward-Prowse is set to captain the side for the remainder of the season with previous skipper Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s future in doubt.
One benefit of the prolonged gap between matches is that Nathan Redmond is able to return sooner than anticipated after he was set to miss a large portion of the remaining fixtures.
It’s been a while since we’ve been able to say this.. here’s how we predict the Saints will line-up:
