Southampton: Saints U18s set for new Spurs stadium opener tomorrow
By Marc Walker
Southampton’s Under-18s are set to play their part in the first game in Spurs’ new stadium tomorrow afternoon in the U18s Premier League.
The young Saints side will face a huge step in their development as players in the first official test event in the hosts’ newly built ground.
‘New Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’ – as it is currently called – has a capacity to hold over 62,000 fans and the excitement around the first football match being played there is expected to draw a crowd of around 30,000 tomorrow.
Saints are managed by former professional player Paul Hardyman following Craig Fleming’s promotion to coach at u23s and first-team level.
They have had a successful season so far and currently sit in fourth position in Under-18s Premier League South division.
Next. Elyounoussi plays 34 minutes for Norway vs Spain. dark
Eight wins, two draws and seven losses have seen them accumulate 26 points, and their last game saw them beat Swansea City 3-0.
Goals from Benni Smales-Braithwaite, Pascal Kpohomouh and Christian Norton saw them to victory at Staplewood.
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Saints may well be without a number of their players when facing Spurs on Sunday afternoon though.
The international break saw both senior squad members and youth academy players leave to represent their countries.
Each of Will Smallbone, Jonathan Afolabi, Kameron Ledwidge and Will Ferry were called up by Republic of Ireland’s Under-19s for three games in Russia.
A 5-0 win over Romania on Wednesday saw both Smallbone and Afolabi net braces, whilst the latter also scored in their 3-0 victory against Azerbaijan today.
One further match against Russia remains for them on Tuesday and they will then return to England to play for Saints again.
Being without some key players may make it difficult, but playing a talented Spurs side will be difficult enough already.
They sit in second in the league and are battling to finish top with North London rivals Arsenal.
In a campaign that has seen Saints Under-23s with a chance of winning their league and a number of academy graduates making their debuts for the first-team, winning the first game in Spurs’ superb new ground may well add to that impressive list.