On Saturday afternoon, Southampton hosts Stoke City in an attempt to get back on track before playing in the Championship playoffs.
While the Saints are currently in fourth place in the standings, Stoke is currently in 17th place and has to win in order to maintain their second-tier status for another year.
Although it was never going to be easy to edge past two of the top three, Russell Martin is worried about his Southampton players’ decline in form.
Tuesday night saw a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of promotion rivals Leicester City after giving up a one-goal lead to lose at Cardiff City.
Because of this, the Saints are essentially assured of a playoff spot—fourth, to be exact—and will probably face West Bromwich Albion, Norwich City, or Hull City in the semifinals.
Martin won’t be gazing too far ahead for the time being. Six of this team’s previous 13 Championship games have ended in losses, with the bulk of those losses occurring away from St Mary’s.
Positively, Southampton has triumphed in 15 of its 22 league games played at home on the South Coast, including four of the previous five.
With only one loss in their last six games, Stoke, the opposition, has managed to put themselves in danger of being demoted to League One.
Despite a four-game losing streak during that time, three draws kept things moving in front of last weekend’s potentially crucial matchup with Plymouth Argyle.
With two games left in the season, the Potters lead by four points after Steven Schumacher secured a 3-0 victory over his old team at the bet365 Stadium.
A draw will do for Stoke if Birmingham City loses to Huddersfield Town, but Schumacher’s team will want to add to the seven points they have earned from their previous four road games.
Form for the Southampton Championship: DWWWLL
Form for the Stoke City Championship: WDDLDW
Stuart Armstrong, a midfielder for Southampton, and Joe Rothwell have both been added to the injury list before of this match.
Martin has made a number of changes, and one of them should be the return of Will Smallbone. Ryan Fraser and Samuel Edozie are also vying for chances.
James Bree might be placed on the replacements’ bench and Kyle Walker-Peters moved to the right if Ryan Manning starts at left defense.
Stoke’s convincing victory over Plymouth suggests Schumacher would stick with his starting team.
Both Wouter Berger and Mehdi Leris, who scored a goal or assisted in that game as replacements, are eligible for recall.
Lynden Gooch, Ben Pearson, and Ryan Mmaee will all continue to be sidelined due to injuries.
McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning; Smallbone, Charles, Aribo; Edozie, Armstrong, Fraser might be Southampton’s starting lineup.
Iversen, Hoever, Wilmot, McNally, Stevens; Laurent, Thompson; Manhoef, Cundle, Bae; Campbell might be Stoke City’s starting lineup.