Southampton will play hosts to Stoke City at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Saturday at the back of a hard-fought 1-1 draw versus Burnley in their last league encounter. Both teams are currently fighting for their Premier League lives at the bottom end of the league table and will be desperate to secure the three points this weekend. The Saints find themselves in 6th place in the league standings while the Potters are further down in 19th place, with just a point separating the two teams at the moment. A victory on Saturday could go a long way in helping their cause with both teams eager to get themselves out of relegation trouble. The contest is all set to be a ‘relegation six-pointer’ as the stakes get higher going into the final stretch of the season.
The recent history of the fixture makes a grim reading for the home team as the Potters have won their last two meetings with the Saints which includes a 2-1 victory at the bet365 Stadium earlier this season. Mauricio Pellegrino is expected to stick with his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and might hand Manolo Gabbiadini a rare start up top.
4-2-3-1 Southampton Predicted Lineup To Face Stoke City
Defence
Alex McCarthy will once again line up in goal for the Saints and might be protected by a back four of Jack Stephens and Wesley Hoedt in central defence while Cedric Soares operates in a right-back role and Ryan Bertrand takes his place on the left side of the backline.
The Southampton defence has not kept a clean sheet in their last three matches in all competitions. Mauricio Pellegrino will be hoping that his backline can keep the Stoke City attack at bay on Saturday.
Midfield
Oriol Romeu and Mario Lemina will operate as the holding midfielders for the home team and the trio of James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond is expected to line up ahead of them. All five midfielders need to perform at the top of their game if the Saints are to have any chance of stopping the Potters this weekend.
Attack
Manolo Gabbiadini might be deployed up top to lead the lines for the Saints. His injury-time equaliser handed his team a point away at Burnley in their last league outing. Hence, Mauricio Pellegrino might reward him with a start against Stoke City on Saturday with his team desperate for some productivity in the final third. The Italian forward will hope to get his name on the scoresheet again when he laces up to face the Potters defence this weekend.
