Lewis Dobbin's first Saints goal gives Eckert a selection problem

Lewis Dobbin fired over from a clear run at goal against Bolton on the 17th October. A week later he scored in the 34th minute at West Ham to make it 3-1.

It was his first goal for Southampton since a £9m move from Aston Villa, and FotMob named him its player of the match.

Thirty-four minutes at the London Stadium

By the time Dobbin scored, Southampton already had two. Kuryu Matsuki found the net in the second minute and James Bree made it 2-0 in the 11th.

Kyle Walker-Peters replied for West Ham in the 18th minute, which made Dobbin's goal the one that sealed the victory. West Ham ended up taking 28 shots to Southampton's 15, yet the expected goals read 1.55 to 1.51 in Southampton's favour.

Eckert said afterwards that his team had prepared to start fast, and that the effort took energy out of them. James Ward-Prowse said the message at the start of the week was that Southampton would win the game.

Dobbin picked up a yellow card in the 78th minute and made way for Divin Mubama in the 89th. Tomas Soucek scored for West Ham deep into stoppage time, which made the finish nervier than it deserved to be.

Saints Marching wrote that the goal justified his start. Hard to argue.

The decision before QPR

Cyle Larin leads the Southampton goal charts with seven league goals. Eckert is "quite positive" that he and Flynn Downes will be available, and Saints Marching suggested that Larin's repeated injuries could keep Dobbin in the side.

So Eckert has a choice, and it is a good one to have. At Bolton he replaced Larin with Dobbin before half-time, and at West Ham Dobbin repaid the manager's faith.

Dobbin's argument is simple. He scored when the team needed a third, and he has now been used in each of the last three games, which is a run of trust Eckert does not hand out lightly in a squad of 25.

Larin's argument is simpler. Seven goals.

Divin Mubama is the unfortunate casualty. He has 145 league minutes and no starts, Saints Marching pointed out, and neither man in front of him looks like giving way soon.

Eckert should keep faith with Dobbin on Saturday and give Larin the last half hour. That handles the fitness question, protects a striker coming back from injury, and rewards the man who scored.

If Dobbin starts and scores again, the selection problem becomes a question of how Eckert uses both of them. That is a better position than the one Southampton were in a month ago.

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