Southampton v Burnley Match Preview
It may be St Valentine’s Day today but there will be no love and affection on show for our visit to St Mary’s stadium tomorrow. The rest of the season begins there and we need to build on the much improved performances against Leicester Manchester United and Arsenal. Let’s not forget the historical markers too. We last did the double over the Saints in the glorious 1946/47 season. An opening day 3-0 win over a hapless Southampton gives us the perfect platform to repeat that feat. Saints results have much improved since then when they also suffered a humiliating 9-0 home defeat by Leicester. We are now locked together on 31 points and Saints manager Hasenhüttl will doubtless be keen to bolster their miserable home record this season with a victory over the Clarets. He may have to do so without James Ward-Prowse but he will have ex-Claret Danny Ings available to face his former club. Jay Rodriguez will make a return to St Mary’s and the relative performances of the strikers Ings/Long v Wood/Rodriguez could well decide the outcome of this match. COYC!