Southampton welcome former manager Claude Puels Leicester City to St. Mary’s this Saturday afternoon in what is the south coasts first three o’clock home game of the 2018/19 season.
The Foxes are coming into the game with their tails up after coming away from their previous tie with a fantastic 2-0 victory against newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Saints however are still looking for their first victory of the season after a tough 2-1 loss against Everton at Goodison Park.
Both sides have come into this season off the back off a busy and impactful transfer market. Whilst Southampton have lost Serbian star Dusan Tadic to Dutch giants Ajax, Leicester are now without their key man Riyad Mahrez, with the Algerian moving to the Premier League champions Manchester City.
Although this may be true, the two squads have recruited well and have replaced what has been lost. Highly rated Englishman James Maddison joining the team from Leicestershire, while the red and whites have added Norwegian Mohamed Elyounoussi and former Celtic star Stuart Armstrong to their ranks.
Coming into the game, will most likely be able to welcome back new signings Jannik Vestergaard and previously mentioned Mohamed Elyounoussi after the pair missed the previous game due to illness and injury respectively.
Leicester City will be without key man Jamie Vardy after a straight red card at the King Power last weekend, with alternative striker Shinji Okazaki also a doubt.
Southampton will certainly be pushing for a victory in the upcoming game to stop any possible worries of a winless run becoming a problem due to the fact the Saints have not faced any of the ‘big six’.
Despite this, the former-Premier League winners will not roll over easily, with three players possibly playing a big part this weekend.