Southampton return to Championship action this weekend as they travel to Huddersfield Town in a bid to take their current unbeaten run to nine games.
Russell Martin’s side are flying at the minute and will fancy their chances no matter who they come up against, such is the form they are in. The Saints go to Huddersfield on the back of three consecutive wins, with the promotion-chasing side overcoming a tough test to beat in-form West Brom last time out.
With 17 places separating Southampton and Huddersfield in the league table, many will be expecting a fairly routine win for Martin’s men, but their opponents will likely have devised a plan that looks to stifle Southampton’s potent attack and make things difficult.
What should Southampton expect from their next opponents and how can they successfully negotiate another potentially difficult test away from home?
Darren Moore likely to focus on being hard to beat
When the Huddersfield hierarchy decided to move on from the well-liked Neil Warnock and replace him in the dugout with Darren Moore many fans of the club were uninspired by the appointment. Warnock had very much steadied the ship at the Yorkshire club and it seemed strange that Moore would be the man the club saw as the right coach to help the side progress.
Moore’s footballing philosophy is a far cry from that of Martin, with the Southampton manager’s passion for attractive, possession-based football not something you could associate with the former Sheffield Wednesday boss.
Despite Moore’s more pragmatic, somewhat negative tactics, Huddersfield have been conceding goals at an alarming rate. In their last four league games alone, the Terriers have conceded nine goals and that is with a 0-0 draw with Watford included in the run.
Since Moore took over in late September, Huddersfield have won just once and have conceded four goals on three separate occasions. The past two results – the 0-0 draw with Watford and narrow 1-0 loss to Hull City – may be signs that they have found a way to make their defence more solid, although Southampton will be looking to exploit any frailties.
How will Huddersfield line-up?
It would be reasonable to assume Huddersfield will be more than happy to allow Southampton to have the bulk of the possession and rely on set-pieces or potential counter-attacks to create chances. Southampton have an average possession of 63.7% this season, whilst Huddersfield had just average just 39.9% and managed just 24% away at Hull last time out.
Since Moore took over as manager, Huddersfield have played either a back three or back five in every league game with seemingly little emphasis on looking to be on the front-foot in games; their one goal in the past four games evidence of this. It would be a massive shock if Town deviate from this against the league’s in form side.
Huddersfield may be boosted by the return of the injured Josh Koroma but striker Danny Ward remains injured. It is unlikely that there will be too many surprises for Martin and he can be relatively comfortable that if he bases his team selection on Huddersfield’s last few sides that his side will be well prepared.
Speaking ahead of the clash Martin confirmed this, saying: “We need to turn the game into the game that we need it to be regardless of how their setup is. We have an idea of what we think they might do but we will find out on Saturday afternoon.”
On that basis, the predicted Huddersfield XI is as follows:
Nicholls (GK)
Jackson
Pearson
Helik
Lees
Nakayama
Wiles
Edmonds-Green
Hogg
Thomas
Koroma
Kick-off is 3pm Saturday November 25th.