Southampton’s promotion charge resumes this evening as they welcome Preston North End to St Mary’s Stadium.
After defeating Birmingham City on the weekend in dramatic circumstances, Russell Martin‘s side must now turn their focus towards the Lancashire outfit, who are heading into the affair full of confidence.
Preston have their sights set on a top-six finish as they reside in ninth, four points adrift of the play-off positions.
The visitors have won four of their last six games and in that time, kept three clean sheets, so they’ll be a difficult team to break down.
With that said, Bournemouth loanee David Brooks could play a pivotal role in unlocking the watertight defence that has shipped just three goals in the last five outings.
David Brooks could frustrate Preston North End
Martin dropped Adam Armstrong in the defeat to Millwall last month and is still frustrated at the decision to do so.
“I am still annoyed at myself for taking him out of the team,” The Saints boss told the Daily Echo. “I think we are a better team with him in it. With hindsight, I shouldn’t have but we felt there was validation for him needing a rest.
“We thought we would be okay without him and we weren’t so it’s testament to how good he has been.”
Whilst there’s little doubt Armstrong is talismanic for Southampton, it’s actually Brooks who will be key in tonight’s clash.
Russell Martin aware of David Brooks’ quality
The left-footed wide player has registered five goal contributions in seven games for the South Coasters since his debut in February, which is two more than Armstrong has managed in that period.
Martin is well aware of Brooks’ talent and last month admitted that he is better than he initially anticipated.
“As a player and as a person, I think he is fantastic. He’s even better than I thought he was, and I had a really high opinion of him in the first place,” the 38-year-old said last month.
“He ended up playing two positions for us on Saturday and did both with real quality and class.”
So, given Martin’s previous words, is he placing too much importance on Armstrong when he has a player of Brooks’ calibre at his disposal?
Perhaps his team selection tonight should be tailored towards playing to the strengths of the Wales international, rather than focusing too much on playing everything through Armstrong.