Tottenham Hotspur will be missing at least four players for the trip to St Mary's as Antonio Conte tries to halt his season descending into a tame finish after it promised so much , but they will face a Saints side who have more to play for.
Antonio Conte will be missing at least four of his squad for the trip to St Mary's, but it will mean that the Saints fans will have a chance to see a Southampton old boy make a swift return with Fraser Forster in fine form in the Spurs goal.
Missing will be Hugo Lloris in goal, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Ryan Sessegnon. all are out for various periods in the medium and longer term so will miss the trip to the South Coast.
Spurs have had other concerns of late, but it seems that unless there are injuries sustained in training this week they will otherwise have a full squad, Conte had this to say:
"No news, no new injuries. You know Sessegnon is out, Bissouma, Bentancur and Lloris. No new injuries. We have another training session tomorrow but fingers crossed I hope for nothing different."
Emerson Royal and Ivan Perisic were going into last weekend, but they played a part and so assuming they have suffered no adverse reaction they should feature.
Spurs will bring at least three old favourites to St Mary's, on the pitch they will have Fraser Forster in goal plus Pierre Emille Hojbjerg in the midfield, both will receive varying receptions, Fraser Forster should hopefully receive a warm one, having given good service and left at the end of his contract after 8 years at the club.
Hojbjerg less so, having been seen to have left under a cloud and at the end dropped by Ralph Hasenhuttl perhaps suggesting that having been tapped up by Spurs his attitude was not right.
But third old favourite that will not be greeted well by the Saints fans, is their plundering of the Southampton FC anthem, "When The Saints go Marching in" this has of course been Saints signature tune for many decades certainly beyond living memory of the either Saints or Spurs fans.
But in the last decade or so, Spurs fans have been up to their usual tricks of stealing other teams songs and trying to claim them as their own, it cannot be denied that they give a rousing rendition of it, but the blunt truth is it is a Southampton song, recognised as such by football fans throughout the country, although St Mirren & St Johnstone in Scotland will lay a claim to it, certainly a bigger claim than Tottenham Hotspur have.