Saints and Burnley are level on points separated only by goals scores and if Saints are to put to bed any lingering worries about relegation, they need to score more goals than the Clarets today.

The big question is whether James Ward Prowse will be fit to play, but Ralph Hasenhuttl has a few other posers to answer with the return of Danny Ings and Theo Walcott to the squad.

It will be a big loss if James Ward Prowse misses his first game since God knows when, but it doesn't need to be terminal, we have options, the most obvious being utilising Stuart Armstrong in the centre, but the rumour mill says that Ralph might well bring back Alexandre Jankewitz into the side after his little faux pas at Old Trafford.

Certainly Jankewitz is a talent and he should be given a chance both by the manager and those that seemed to think he should be shot at dawn for that tackle against United, but he should be played because Ralph thinks he is ready and not for as is said in some quarters because that if he doesn't get a game he is likely to try and press ahead with a transfer request.

Personally I think that Armstrong should get the nod as we have plenty of options out wide.

But the other big question is does Danny Ings start, whilst that sounds a no brainer, there is a bigger picture to consider and what we don't want is the striker coming back too early.

At Bournemouth Nathan Redmond had a brilliant game and doesn't deserve to be dropped, likewise neither does Che Adams and he will be buzzing after his goal for Scotland in midweek.

Therefore I am minded to keep Ings in reserve on the bench for this one, bring him on late in the game and make sure that he is fit for the trip to West Bromwich Albion and Wembley.

What is really needed though is the desire that we showed at both Bournemouth and Sheffield United, when we played Brighton there was complacency and hopefully as was shown in the FA Cup game, we learned our lesson and can go out and put this game to bed.

The first of three games that truly shape our season, we were a good team up to the New Year when we started getting injury after injury , we now have most of those players back and we need to get back to winning ways.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 09:58 - Apr 4 For me Janckewitz starts in the JWP role assuming JWP isn’t fit. Armstrong is key to most things going forwards and when has played the more defensive role is no where near as effective in either attack or defence. Although we have wide options Armstrong has to fill one. Up top, if Ings is fit, Ralph starts with Ings and Adams. They are the best pairing and Ings will be keen to play against his old team. Although Redmond had a good performance in the last match it was only against Bournemouth and I suspect that will it it for a while. Put him back out on the left as that is where we want him to put in performances week after week. So my team Forster KWP Bednarek Vestegaard Bertie Diallo Jankewicz Armstrong Redmond Ings Adams Theo on the bench to make an impact if needed.

1

SaintNick added 10:07 - Apr 4 Good line up that would also see Minamino, Djenepo, Salisu , Stephens & Tella on a strong bench
1

underweststand added 11:20 - Apr 4 Today's task : Try and score against the current England goalkeeper....
0

KriSaint added 11:44 - Apr 4 JWP made the starting line up, which is great. A little surprised to see Walcott start after such a long period out with injury + I'm a bit disappointed for Che and Moussa to not start, but maybe they are mentally tired from playing international games and travelling; but great to see so many important players in our match squad. It has been a while since that was the case. Important game in so many ways, so LET'S WIN IT! <3

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls