Southampton head north to Lancashire tomorrow to face Championship side Preston North End at Deepdale, kick-off 3pm.
The match will be Saints’ second pre-season friendly in their schedule this summer after a 1-1 draw with SCR Altach in Austria last weekend. Altach provided a good test for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men and their next opponents will likely be another step up again.
It remains to be seen whether the minutes given to key players will be increased slightly to build up their workload. Two separate teams were given 45 minutes each for Saints last Sunday.
Preston have already played four pre-season friendlies and were victorious in all of them – a 4-0 victory over AFC Fylde sandwiched between three 2-0 wins against Bamber Bridge, Cork City and Chorley.
The last meeting between these two sides came in the League Cup back in the 2011/12 season, where Saints were 2-1 victors at St Mary’s.
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Preston were recently boosted by the return of striker David Nugent, who rejoins after 12 years spent at Portsmouth, Burnley, Leicester City, Middlesbrough and Derby County.
He will not be ready to make his second debut for the club against Saints, but fellow summer signing Patrick Bauer could make his home debut.
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Che Adams made his first Saints appearance against Altach last Sunday and scored after two minutes.
He will be involved again, but Moussa Djenepo is yet to join up with his new teammates after playing at the Africa Cup of Nations. Mario Lemina, Charlie Austin and Guido Carrillo have been frozen out of Hasenhuttl’s first-team.
Preston North End squad
Goalkeepers: Declan Rudd, Connor Ripley, Mathew Hudson, Callum Roberts, Michael Crowe
Defenders: Joe Rafferty, Ben Davies, Jordan Storey, Patrick Bauer, Tom Clarke (c), Paul Huntington, Andrew Hughes, Josh Earl, Kevin O’Connor, Jack Armer,
Midfielders: Alan Browne, Ben Pearson, Jack Baxter, Brad Potts, Daniel Johnson, Ryan Ledson, Paul Gallagher, Adam O’Reilly, Josh Harrop, Billy Bodin
Forwards: Josh Ginnelly, Tom Barkhuizen, Graham Burke, Jayden Stockley, Sean Maguire, Louis Moult, Connor Simpson
Southampton squad
Goalkeepers: Angus Gunn, Fraser Forster, Alex McCarthy
Defenders: Cedric Soares, Yan Valery, Jannik Vestergaard, Jan Bednarek, Wesley Hoedt, Jack Stephens, Maya Yoshida, Ryan Bertrand, Jake Vokins
Midfielders: Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Stuart Armstrong, Harrison Reed, Jake Hesketh, Mohamed Elyounoussi
Forwards: Nathan Redmond, Josh Sims, Danny Ings, Che Adams, Shane Long