One veteran starter in the Derby County roster is pumped up for taking the Southampton test and Saints will understand him after finding heavy traces of Portsmouth in his career.
Southampton fans had the English media dialling them regular ringtones over how the South Coast league derby was panning out as a once in a decade moment. As a result, the Saints had their hype meters overdriven, though they fizzled out eventually.
Now, the coming afternoon's Derby trip is eligible for the same grand distinction but since it's not any real derby, Saints have forgotten much off-field meaning attached to it.
And let's thank that sweating St. Mary's evening in May which relieved Southampton fans of some pathetic Derby County debates, the whole of English football was murmuring.
Southampton will square off with former Pompey Matt Clarke and he's dropping clear hints
Never mind, playing in pressure free games could be better for Southampton every other weekend, but there is one name in the rival's building who is treating it as an all-or-nothing match.
He is Derby's veteran centre-back Matt Clarke who echoed his gameweek determination to his club's website saying: "It'll be a tough game but, as cliché as it sounds, it's about what we do and not the opposition. We're desperate to get that first win at home, and we'll go in and attack the game."
I get it, nobody is repellant to a winning mindset but "attack the game" comments rarely comes from oppositions who don't have a bitter past with Southampton. There must be more storylines to it, and does it get any easier than exploring Clarke's 4-year long Portsmouth ties?
Evidently, that's where Clarke's motivation is emerging from, and it's simple to guess what could be his first reactions if Saints succumbed to the home side's resilience.