Streaking Southampton Battle Burnley at St Mary’s
Southampton host newly-promoted Burnley at St. Mary’s Stadium Sunday, where the Saints will seek to make it seven in a row unbeaten.
Assisting in Southampton’s quest will be newly-returned Jay Rodriguez, who was sidelined with injury earlier in the season but is now expected to be healthy. Record signing Sofiane Boufal is also expected to make his highly-anticipated debut after taking the past two months to rehabilitate from an offseason injury.
Rodriguez and Boufal are expected to factor heavily in the match as the Saints welcome back a plethora of internationals including attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic and striker Shane Long, who each scored for their countries this past week. With Boufal and Rodriguez rested and healthy, manager Claude Puel may opt to give his international stars an off week for rest and recuperation.
Puel has not discussed the weekend’s lineup as of press time but had previously indicated that Rodriguez and Boufal would be available after the international break.
Southampton enter the match unbeaten in six straight matches through all competitions; their last loss was a controversial 2-1 versus Arsenal at the Emirates on 10 September. A pair of draws against Hapoel Be’er Sheva and Leicester City were the most recent results, as travel distances and fixture fatigue blunted the Saints offense. With a week off from the rigors of club play, the Saints will look to take a vital three points ahead of looming clashes with titans Chelsea and Manchester City.
For Burnley, sitting 14th on 7 points, it’s an uphill battle. Last time out, the Clarets suffered a 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the Turf Moor ground. With only two players, centre-back Michael Keane and forward Sam Vokes, called to international duty this week, the opposition enter with perhaps a more well-rested squad.
Burnley will have to make due without the services of Andre Gray, who continues to serve a suspension for homophobic tweets he wrote several years ago. Sam Dyche’s squad will be looking to make their promotion stick this time around after failing to in the 2014-15 campaign and the loss of Gray has thrown a spanner into the traditional 4-4-2 Dyche prefers to run. In the absence of their second man up front, the Clarets have run a 4-2-3-1 with a wide midfield and Vokes up front as the sole target man.
Next: ICYMI: Southampton Stars Shine in Europe, World
The wide approach should keep Southampton’s midfielding corps of Steven Davis, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and James Ward-Prowse busy, but the squad have acquitted themselves well against similar setups so far this year.
After weeks away, Southampton’s faithful will be glad to welcome the side back to St. Mary’s and expecting a victory from their homecoming. Given the depth of talent Claude Puel has to pick from, I don’t see any other result but a win coming Sunday evening.