Southampton's path to a hopeful Ipswich victory has been made easier due to a striker's update who held his own in front of Arsenal forward Viktor Gyokeres.
On Sunday, Southampton's win was underlooked as having come from the referee's over-forgiving nature and rival fans got a reason to brand it as mere luck. Now, the Saints aren't touted for glory in the away Ipswich flight, so, tomorrow we could see harsh pundit evaluations we have escaped recently.
On the other hand, a superior scoring show from the Saints can come but one factor will ensure that praises won't flock in without their ifs and not-ifs.
And it's all thanks to Ipswich Town's tactician Kieran McKenna's one gift that he is willing to present to the visiting Southampton crew. Player absences lie in the mix, and precisely Chuba Akpom's with TWTD quoting McKenna: "They're not ready to contribute as much as what we would like on the match pitch, that's the truth."
Gyokeres will acknowledge the attacker Saints might not get to face
If the statement goes right, then the consequences will be visible on Southampton defenders' faces who seldom get light evenings on their calendar. Less goals, less headache to slide away chances, but Saints are unaware they have avoided a finisher on par with Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres.
The Sweden superstar is widely touted to carve open Premier League defences at will, but even he stood helpless in a bid to match Akpom's second division figures. Further, the latter was also raved about at Arsenal in his boyhood days.
However, Akpom couldn't stamp more first-team experiences early on else, he had everything to be the Gunners new attacking ace like former Saints winger Theo Walcott. Yet, he can be an all-time striker in the Championship but let's hope that tonight's game doesn't fall in Akpom's favour.