Southampton and Leicester will be looking to bounce back from defeats as they face each other in the Championship. The Foxes lost at home to Hull City. The Saints lost to Sunderland on the same day. The teams dropped to seventh and third place in the standings, respectively.
Preview (Southampton vs. Leicester)
Russell Martin would have been pleased with the start that his Southampton team had achieved after emerging from a transitional time with 10 points from four games. Although Southampton disappointingly lost 5-0 to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Much of the optimism from the season’s first few weeks was lost. Martin will be troubled by the way in which they were defeated by the Black Cats. The seven goals allowed in their first four games hinted that defense was not their strong suit. Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ addition may eventually prove to be a game-changer. Martin won’t want to put too much pressure on him when Southampton’s defense needs to get better overall.
The South Coast team can take heart from the fact that they are still in seventh place and have the chance to surpass their future rivals in the standings. Under new head coach Enzo Maresca, Leicester cannot claim to have been convincing in the early stages of the season. However, they managed to record six straight victories without scoring more than twice in a single game when they played Hull before the break. Maresca and his Foxes players would have expected to turn the score around even after falling behind early on by a goal, but the Tigers admirably held out to earn the three points.
Hull’s victory served as a warning to Leicester, who are still only one point off first place, that they cannot afford to expect that their quality will automatically secure them a place in the Premier League without matching it with consistency.
Team News
Che Adams, a Scotland international, might be called up to the starting lineup if Sekou Mara were to withdraw because he was still at Southampton. Harwood-Bellis will make his debut. Shea Charles, Carlos Alcaraz, and Ryan Fraser are all competing for roles. Will Smallbone have earned the right to start this match after recovering from an ankle injury against Sunderland and with the Republic of Ireland during the international break. Leicester manager Maresca may turn back to a 4-3-3 formation after attempting to play with a back three against Hull failed to produce results.
Ricardo Pereira and Callum Doyle will start at full-back. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will play in a central midfield three. Yunus Akgun or Kasey McAteer will start from the bench in favor of Stephy Mavididi on one of the sides. We anticipate a much tighter match. It might favor the guests more than the hosts given how they performed last time. However, given the recent upheaval, the Saints can only have benefited from some time on the practice field. As a result, we expect a closely contested split of the spoils.
Southampton 1 – 1 Leicester
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