Russell Martin faces former club Swansea City for the first time as Southampton welcome the south Wales side to St Mary’s for a Boxing Day clash.
Southampton will be in confident mood in front of their own fans following a hard-fought 1-0 win over QPR which extended their unbeaten run to 15 games.
Southampton had to do their fair share of defending in the win over QPR, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis putting in an impressive defensive display as well as scoring the game’s only goal. Swansea have an extra day’s rest having played on Friday night and will be on a real high after a 95th minute winner saw them beat Preston North End 2-1.
Michael Duff was the man that replaced Martin at Swansea in the summer but was sacked on 4th December after a run of five league games without a win. Swansea have yet to replace Duff in the dugout but are sat in 16th in the Championship; winning two, drawing one and losing one since parting ways with their manager.
How will Southampton line-up against Swansea City?
Martin will be reunited with a number of familiar places when Swansea arrive at St Mary’s and Southampton fans will hope that their manager will be able to exploit any weaknesses he is aware of from his time in Wales.
With the short turnaround since the QPR game, and the fact the Saints face a run of four games in nine days between the 23rd and January 1st, Martin will have to utilise the depth of his squad if he is to successfully negotiate the festive period.
One player Southampton will certainly be without on Boxing Day is Shea Charles after the Northern Ireland international picked up a second yellow card late on against QPR which means he is suspended for this one. James Bree is also likely to be unavailable given he came off injured in the first half on Saturday. This should open the door for Ryan Manning who is a real favourite of Martin and followed the manager in making the move from Swansea to Southampton in the summer.
Jack Stephens has come on in the last three league games following the captain’s return from injury but will most likely watch on from the bench as Harwood-Bellis and the reliable Jan Bednarek continue in central defence; the latter proving his worth in his recent display against Blackburn Rovers. It would come as no surprise to see Stephens come in for at least one of the league games over the intense festive period, though. With Manning on the left of the defence, Kyle Walker-Peters will start at right-back having impressed on both sides of the back four in a fine first half of the season.
Flynn Downes is building his fitness after his recent bout of illness which saw him miss the Watford game, whilst Will Smallbone and Stuart Armstrong are expected to play alongside the West Ham United loanee in midfield. Joe Aribo has taken his opportunity and started the past four games but his influence dwindled in the QPR win and he may be rotated for this one.
Aribo dropping to the bench could pave the way for Carlos Alcaraz to come back in and take up the false nine role. The Argentine did not help his cause by coming off the bench to chip a penalty over the bar against Blackburn but redeemed himself by scoring late on. Che Adams will also be in contention to start as a more conventional striker, while Sékou Mara was unlucky not to come on against QPR after an impressive cameo against Blackburn.
Sam Edozie should continue on the left after a run of good performances, whilst Adam Armstrong will continue his Southampton career revival wide from the right and will hope to add to his 12 league goals.
With the various dilemmas that Martin will have ahead of the Swansea game, here is how we predict Southampton will line up:
(4-3-3): Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning; Downes, Smallbone, Stuart Armstrong; Adam Armstrong, Alcaraz, Edozie