The man of the hour: Sofiane Boufal, who’s endured a slow start overall to the season which has hopefully been kick-started with a goal of the season contender against West Brom last Saturday.
Boufal has seen himself warming the bench at the St.Mary’s Stadium on a regular basis even though he seemed to impress in pre-season, putting in extra training sessions to finally start his tenure at Saints effectively.
Having started just two games so far this season, Boufal needs to kick on and hopefully he’ll get his opportunity after scoring Southampton’s winner against West Brom after being on the pitch for just four minutes.
We’ve seen what he’s capable of and his dribbling talent is unreal. If he adds more assists and goals to his game (if he is given the game time) then without a doubt he’ll be a club Player of the Season contender.
Up until his West Brom wonder goal, Boufal hadn’t really taken the limited chances given to him, playing for 150 minutes up until the game against West Brom and the only notable performance so far this season before last Saturday was against Newcastle where he added a bit of flair, albeit the game was already settled at that point.
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However, the Newcastle game was before the West Brom cameo, proving that since the international break the Moroccan has impressed in the 20 minutes he’s so far played.
A start against Brighton will give him the opportunity to warrant a regular starting place and involvement in a goal or two will certainly earn him a spot that most fans have called him to have since the start of the season.
Even though he goes unnoticed with some of his appearances, Boufal has looked much better than last season, which was a disappointment, and so must take his chance which will hopefully be given to him on Sunday and from there have a brilliant season!