Southampton vs. West Brom
Venue: St. Mary’s Stadium
Kick off: 12PM
Southampton welcome West Bromwich Albion to St Mary’s this afternoon looking to build on their narrow victory at Burnley last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Baggies travel to the South Coast as one of four clubs who are still looking for their first win in the Premier League this season.
On the back of three successive defeats, Ralph Hasenhuttl would have had concerns about the development of a squad which appeared to be heading in the right direction at the end of last season.
However, a no-thrills win over Burnley last weekend has eased the pressure on the Austrian, who will be aiming for a top-10 finish this season after ending last term in 11th place.
The Saints need to improve their return in the final third, netting just three times from four matches in all competitions, but Hasenhuttl will be encouraged that Danny Ings has scored in his last two outings.
Although he will not want to rely on the England international, Hasenhuttl knows that the prospects of his team will improve dramatically if the 28-year-old is firing on all cylinders.
Opponents West Brom are having few problems in finding the back of the net, registering 10 strikes in their last four matches.
Nevertheless, their performances at the other end of the pitch are undermining their progress, with the same amount of goals being conceded during the same fixtures.
Slaven Bilic would have been left optimistic about the development of his team after they showed a ruthless streak in opening up a 3-0 half-time lead against Chelsea.
That said, failing to record all three points from that position leaves question marks over his approach for the next four games, all of which come against opponents whom they will regard as direct rivals.
Southampton possible XI: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Djenepo, Ings, Adams.
West Bromwich Albion possible XI: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, O’Shea, Townsend, Pereira, Sawyers, Livermore, Diangana, Robinson.
