Southampton look to make it three wins in a row as they welcome Preston North End to St Mary’s on Tuesday night.
The midweek affair represents one of Southampton‘s games in hand over the three sides above them in the battle for automatic promotion.
The fixture was previously postponed due to a fire in close proximity to St Mary’s and is a crucial one if Russell Martin‘s side are to maintain hopes of a top two finish.
With Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Leeds United all failing to win last week and the Saints picking up six points, the south coast side are gathering real momentum. Flynn Downes’ dramatic 99th-minute winner on Saturday only served to add to this feeling.
Preston are tenth in the Championship and their 1-0 defeat at home to Norwich City at the weekend may well have put to bed their chances of reaching the play-offs. This could be good news for Southampton, as a deflated North End may feel their season is all but over.
Manager Ryan Lowe will be determined to keep his side motivated, though, and Southampton know how dangerous Preston can be having drawn the reverse fixture 2-2.
Gavin Bazunu was the hero that day, as his header from a corner came off a Preston player to secure a point deep in second-half stoppage time.
Martin will be hoping for a more straight forward evening this time around, but his side need to stop letting teams back into games as they did at the weekend.
Southampton team news v Preston
There are no fresh injury concerns for Martin as he picks his team for the Preston clash.
Therefore, the only senior absentees are Juan Larios and Ross Stewart. Both have had long-term injuries, but there has been some positive news regarding Stewart with Martin hinting the striker could feature if Southampton end up in the play-offs.
The Southampton boss has been criticised for his tactical experiments in recent weeks but named an unchanged side against Watford following the midweek win over Coventry City.
This back to basics approach was welcomed by the Southampton faithful, but it may be difficult for the same 11 to start a third game in a week, with Martin citing some potential tiredness in his press conference on Monday.
Speaking on whether he will be able to name an unchanged team again, Martin said: “There were some tired bodies and tired minds, and also the emotion of the game.”
The 38-year-old added: “We have a brilliant group of players as well so it’s up to us to use the quality of the squad, but also determine which are the best players for this game.
“The players for the last two games have done brilliantly so we’ll wait and see tomorrow, see how they feel, see what we feel.
“Whatever team we put out, we will be confident that it’s one that can win, because it’s another tough challenge for us.”
Southampton predicted XI v Preston
Bazunu has played every Championship game this season and will continue in goal for this one.
After experimenting with Jack Stephens in a hybrid left-back role that saw him step into central midfield in possession after the March international break, Martin has returned to a more conventional back four recently.
Jan Bednarek has been the victim of this change, with the Pole on the bench for the past two games and Stephens partnering loanee Taylor Harwood-Bellis at the heart of the defence. James Bree has played at right-back in the last two, with Championship Team of the Season award winner Kyle Walker-Peters operating at left-back.
Ryan Manning had not played a minute in the three fixtures prior to Watford and was even omitted from the squad completely against Coventry. The Irishman impressed on his return off the bench on Saturday though, making five key passes according to Sofascore despite only being introduced in the 71st minute.
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This impact, coupled with the potential need to rotate, may see Manning replace Bree in the side. This would also allow Walker-Peters to return to his favoured right hand side and Manning’s creativity could be a useful asset with Southampton expected to dominate proceedings.
Speaking in January, Martin felt Southampton supporters were not far off seeing the best of Manning, as he said: “I’m really pleased for Ryan that you’ve started to see the best version of him. When he is in his best place, he is one of the best in the league in my opinion.
“That is why we worked so hard to get him here. He has been fantastic with the group as well, he is a big character.”
Downes’ winner on Saturday capped a fine performance and the West Ham United loanee will almost certainly anchor the midfield once more.
Will Smallbone scored within 57 seconds on Saturday and has been good since coming into the side for Stuart Armstrong. If Smallbone is to retain his starting role then it could mean Joe Aribo drops out of the midfield having played a lot of minutes recently, allowing Armstrong to return.
Che Adams is a man in form with three goals in his last two games and should lead the line on Tuesday night. Adam Armstrong has the most goal contributions in the league as per Transfermarkt, with 20 goals and 12 assists and will play wide.
The question is which side of the front three Armstrong occupies. In the last two games the Geordie has played from the left with David Brooks allowed to cut in on his left foot from the right wing. However, three games in a week might be too much for the Welshman and Ryan Fraser could come in.
That change would see Armstrong return to the right, with Fraser almost exclusively playing from the left under Martin.
With the above taken into consideration, this is how we predict Southampton will line up against Preston on Tuesday night.
Southampton XI (4-3-3): Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning; Downes, Smallbone, S. Armstrong; A. Armstrong, Adams, Fraser