“They are hard to read and when they have the ball they are always very, very good and dangerous. This is absolutely a development from last season.”
The words from Ralph Hasenhuttl on his attacking options for this season could not have been more praising, and supporters are also getting the sense from the Southampton forwards this year that they could develop into a deadly force in the Premier League.
Indeed, even with Nathan Redmond out on the injury table as reported by Reuters and Che Adams still yet to find the net in the Premier League, the options Southampton have at their disposal this season are both exciting on paper and working together well on the pitch.
The summer signing of Moussa Djenepo has already proven to be worth the reported £15m the Saints spent on the Mail international according to Sky Sports News as the youngster bagged the winning goal against Sheffield United over the weekend to go along with his strike against Brighton in a 2-0 win, and the return of Sofiane Boufal in the first-team fold after a year away on loan as been a welcome addition.
Although the options available to Southampton are working on the field, things can still get better for the Saints as the season progresses.
At five goals scored after five games, 12 sides in the Premier League have outscored Hasenhuttl’s team already this season with three more clubs on the same lowly figure, and this small number is something that the Austrian will seemingly be keen to improve on over the next few games.
Yet the season is still early, and such a low yield of goals scored is likely to be expected from Southampton fans.
But with the likes of Adams yet to get off the mark despite having the highest xG figure out of anyone in the squad as numbers from Understat show, there is plenty of hope that the goals will begin to flow for Southampton this season with the exciting crop of young, promising and exciting attackers on show this year.
