Nathan Wood has received an embarrassing St. Mary's evening in Swansea's colours, thus keeping a clean sheet doesn't call for a better day than at home and against his old employers.
Since Southampton have mingled into the Championship company, their off-season paperworks with Premier League side Liverpool have hit the floor. Partly, it conveys why Sadio Mané-type moves have gone on mute mode from the Saints desk and a second-tier outfit has turned into an out of the blue replacement.
Knock, knock, they are Saturday's tourists Swansea City with the ever talked about man Russell Martin, fuelling up the Saints and Swansea businesses. He may get slammed as a boos-inviting figure at Rangers, but Martin flew some quality Swansea starlets over to St. Mary's.
Flynn Downes and Ryan Manning have proven their mettle on multiple days, and yes have looked pale on a few others. The individual in flying form instead, is Nathan Wood.
He may have ought to make Martin pat his back as often as Will Still does, but what's important for Southampton is the 22-year-old's neat defending job.
Wood must boost Swansea inspiration levels from 2023/24 Saints face-off
Consequently, the mid-morning game will hold a special sentiment for Wood and one past St. Mary's history will remind him to arrive on the good side of it.
During the festive season in 2023, Wood warmed up for a Southampton meeting like he always did back then, wearing the Swansea badge. However, a just another matchday soon spoiled into a 5-0 humiliation for Wood and his counterparts.
Got it? It's a 360-degree moment for Wood to enter in precisely the same match card but hailing from the Saints department. Setting up five goals is far from Wood's ability radar, but he must plan to leave Swansea speechless with his possession recoveries and five-star blocks.
Also, there is a popular belief that once an unused player starts becoming significant in the first-team ranks, the worst thing he can do is hit the brakes on a hard-found form.
Expectation says Wood must not disappoint but reality keeps putting a standoff with the Saints, so one can't be overly sure.