Southampton - v - Leeds United *** Matchday Thread***

[BelfastAndy]

TEAM NEWS

Manager Ralph Hassenhuttl has confirmed Lyanco is Southampton's only new injury concern, joining Tino Livramento on the sidelines.

Leeds could give a debut to Luis Sinisterra following his return from a pre-season hamstring injury.

Captain Liam Cooper and Adam Forshaw are also available.

Junior Firpo and Luke Ayling remain out, while Stuart Dallas has returned to light training but is not yet ready to play. I hope Firpo remains out - forever. Just checking if anyone actually reads this thread.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

Southampton have won four of their past five home league matches against Leeds, with those wins coming across the top three divisions.

Leeds have lost six of their last eight league away games versus Southampton.

Southampton are two short of 100 league goals in this fixture.

Southampton

Southampton can equal the club league record of six successive defeats, set from January to February 2021.

Saints ended last season and started this one with 4-1 defeats - the last team to end a season and begin the next with consecutive defeats by at least a three-goal margin were Watford in 2018-19 and 2019-20; they were subsequently relegated.

They have failed to win either of their opening two Premier League matches in seven of the past eight seasons.

Saints have won their opening home fixture only once in 23 Premier League seasons, a 3-2 victory against Blackburn Rovers in 2004-05.

Ralph Hassenhuttl's side have dropped 89 points from a winning position, more than any other Premier League club since the Austrian's first game in charge.

James Ward-Prowse has only ended on the winning side in one of the last 12 Premier League matches in which has scored, and none of the last six. He has been directly involved in six of Saints' last eight league goals, scoring five and setting up one.

Leeds United

Leeds have won both of their opening two league fixtures only once in the past 12 seasons - 2018-19 in the Championship - and have not done so in the Premier League since 2002-03.

They are looking for three consecutive league wins for the first time since winning their last four games in 2020-21 under Marcelo Bielsa.

Patrick Bamford - one goal short of 100 career league goals - has scored in his last three top-flight appearances against Southampton. His first top-flight goal came against Saints for Middlesbrough in May 2017.

Winger Jack Harrison created seven chances in their 2-1 win over Wolves, his career-best tally in a league game.

0 - 3.

MOT.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Yep we read it - Firpo might surprise you but then again …

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

… and I forgot to say we also appreciate the effort too - Cheers Andy👍

[BelfastAndy]

Cheers bud. Out on rip today, so fellow supporter and I will be watching from bar table top on this phone. Won't be able to post link, but the one I posted last week worked well. Go back to that thread.....

[CalverleyBoy]

Really hoping for a win now after watching Everton lose at Villa, it would be good to put six points between us and them.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Really hoping for a win now after watching Everton lose at Villa, it would be good to put six points between us and them.

Bench looks fairly strong - Hjelde, Joffy, jimmy, Dan James, Forshaw, Klich and Sinisterra with Klaessen as back up keeper

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

See Kalvin hasn’t made the bench v Bournemouth

[cherrypie7]

See Kalvin hasn’t made the bench v Bournemouth

Talking about the bench, where is Gelhardt? So we are going into this match with only 1 recognized centre forward. Dont like this. Its a very warm day, players are going to get tired.

[Rev72]

Southampton resorting to some fine cheating antics ffs!

[Rev72]

lucky not to be down to 10 there fine fine margins!