Southampton had a week to forget after they were thrashed 3-0 by Crystal Palace in the league and followed it up with a draw against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in their Europa League campaign that wasn’t enough to go through to the round of 32. Their next opponent, Middlesbrough, won’t be any pushovers either. Boro have been quite a robust side this season so far managing to pick points from places like Emirates and the Etihad stadium.
Aitor Karanka’s men will definitely be a tough nut to crack for Southampton, who have experienced an inconsistent campaign so far. The Saints won against Boro when they last met in 2005, which was Boro’s only loss in their previous 7 games. Southampton haven’t won a top -flight home game against Boro since 1996.
Boro will approach the game high with confidence after their convincing win over Hull City.
Defence
Southampton have allowed their opponents to take just 35 shots on target in total, which is the best record in the League so far. The fans will look forward to a similar display this time too.
Fraser Forster will start under the bar. Except for some changes, Puel is expected to stick to the same team that started in the midweek. Ryan Bertrand should start in the left-back position with Cedric Soares on the other flank as the right back.
After sitting out the match in the midweek, club skipper Jose Fonte will start in the centre of the defence alongside van Dijk. Fonte’s contract issue has been the talk of the town this week, with the Portuguese defender likely to leave the club after they didn’t offer a contract extension as he expected.
Midfield
Puel has a lot of options in his midfield. And as he is often seen rotating the squad, we expect him to make few changes this time too. The anchorman will be Oriol Romeu. The Spaniard has been quite consistent in his disciplined play and keeps the pivot position lively.
Højbjerg started in the attacking midfield against Be’er Sheva and is expected to give way to James Ward-Prowse. The 22-year-old will play alongside Steven Davis, who will work as a box-to-box midfielder.
Attack
Major changes are expected up front from Puel against Boro. With Dusan Tadic back in contention for a place in the attacking third, Puel might use him in the left forward position replacing Nathan Redmond, who started in the midweek game.
Josh Sims started on the right flank in the midweek and we expect Puel to move Redmond to that flank, who has been decent from that position so far, scoring 3 goals.
The biggest problem will, however, be replacing Charlie Austin, who was taken off in the midweek clash after he suffered a shoulder injury. Puel is expected to go with Shane Long.
