Southampton have been brought back to earth in a rude manner after their brilliant run in the EFL Cup culminated in the team setting up a Wembley date with the mighty Manchester United in the final. But chastening losses against Arsenal, Swansea City and West Ham United sees them lose all the hard-earned momentum and suddenly they are missing Fonte and Van Dijk badly. While the former lined up for the Hammers against the Saints, the latter is someone they can count on when he is back from injury, at least for this season.
Claude Puel and his boys have to buck up and ditch the current trend of results if they are to finish in a respectable position this season. If they are not able to reverse the trend, a potential relegation battle looms large and hence the motivation to turn things around is there in abundance. Southampton struck a big money move for Italian Manolo Gabbiadini this January window and it was coming for a while with the relative impotency of the side in front of goal. He will bring in much-needed freshness and proven quality and with the team in need of goals, will be expected to continue his impressive start and stop this rut they are in.
PREDICTED SOUTHAMPTON XI WITH THEIR NEW SIGNINGS (4-3-3)
DEFENCE
Fraser Forster will be in goal and it is quite evident that Southampton expect a bit more from the imposing keeper. At right-back, Cedric Soares will be their long-term option while the central defence will see Yoshida line-up alongside Van Dijk when the Dutchman returns from his injury. The loss of Fonte is palpable and something they will have to deal with till the summer. Yoshida has looked good in patches and has to be more consistent which he hopefully will be alongside Van Dijk. Ryan Bertrand will be at left-back.
MIDFIELD
Puel has employed a 3-man midfield and that is likely to be the formation going forward. He has changed the players around but Hojbjerg, Davis and Romeu look the likely candidates to get more game time as the season progresses. Romeu can sit in the holding role with Hojbjerg and Davis alongside him in slightly advanced positions.
ATTACK
Puel has a number of attacking options now and the return of Boufal has made things even more interesting. There will be constant changes but over the rest of the matches, Tadic is likely to be given a fair amount of chances on the left-wing with Gabbiadini leading the attack and Boufal featuring on the right.
