After a rare week without a midweek fixture, Southampton travel to QPR on Saturday as the Saints look to extend their unbeaten run to a remarkable 15 games.
Russell Martin‘s side will be oozing with confidence fresh from their biggest win of the season last weekend, as they condemned ten-man Blackburn Rovers to a 4-0 defeat.
QPR are currently 22nd in the Championship table, but Southampton would be foolish to expect an easy game at a tight away stadium. Rangers sacked Gareth Ainsworth in October and replaced him with a relative unknown in English football in Martí Cifuentes. Since the Spaniard was appointed, the ‘R’s’ have lost just twice, although last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to 23rd-place Sheffield Wednesday was a disappointing result.
This will be the first time this season that Southampton are facing a league opponent for the second time, having beaten QPR 2-1 at St Mary’s in the opening weeks of the season. However, with a new manager in the opposition dugout, it is difficult to predict what to expect from a QPR side desperate to escape the bottom three.
What team will Russell Martin pick against QPR?
The game against QPR on Saturday represents the first of four games in nine days, with Southampton likely to have to rely on the full depth of their squad over the festive period.
Martin confirmed as much in his pre-match press conference, as he said: “We have good depth so it’s going to be a busy period. We are going to need everyone for sure.”
Given the comprehensive victory over Blackburn last weekend, it will be tempting for Martin to name an unchanged side. That being said, there be a couple of slight tweaks or potential changes in personnel as Southampton look to overcome a difficult away fixture.
Martin confirmed that there are no fresh injury concerns for his side, with club captain Jack Stephens playing 45 minutes for the under-21 side in midweek having come on against Blackburn for his long-awaited return from injury.
The Southampton manager also confirmed that Flynn Downes “felt much better after having 60 minutes” following illness which is good news for the Saints given how influential the on-loan man’s recent performances have been.
Despite Stephens stepping up his return, it is anticipated Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jan Bednarek will remain the central defensive duo, with the impressive Kyle Walker-Peters and James Bree taking the full-back spots.
Joe Aribo has had to be patient this season but stepped up in Downes’ absence, taking his opportunity and retaining his place despite Downes returning in the next game. Aribo, Stuart Armstrong and Will Smallbone all had spells operating as the false nine last weekend but none of the trio looked hugely comfortable performing this role so perhaps the only change will see Carlos Alcaraz come in for Aribo; the Argentine playing his best football in this role this season.
Sékou Mara impressed after coming off the bench last weekend, scoring as well as winning a penalty, and will be in Martin’s thoughts; but it is expected he will have to build on this performance from the bench once again. With a lot of games coming up, another good display from the bench could see Mara handed a rare start in the coming weeks as he overtakes Che Adams in the pecking order.
Sam Edozie has now scored two in his last two and should continue to provide pace and directness from wide, as will Adam Armstrong who is Southampton’s top scorer with 12 league goals this season.
With everything considered, this is how we predict Southampton will line-up against QPR on Saturday:
(4-3-3) Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Bree; Downes, Smallbone, S. Armstrong; A. Armstrong, Alcaraz, Edozie