Southampton will continue their Premier League campaign as they prepare to host Arsenal at St Mary’s.
Confidence will be high going into this one after a stunning 3-0 victory against Norwich City, in what was their first game since the temporary suspension of the 2019/20 campaign.
The result moved them further away from the relegation zone and are now 10 points clear, but still not mathematically safe.
The visitors, Arsenal, are having a torrid time after suffering back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and Brighton last weekend.
Confidence from the Emirates Stadium faithful has never been so low as they try to keep their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League alive.
Taking all of this into consideration, here’s who we think will line up against the Gunners on Thursday.
Alex McCarthy should retain his spot in between the Saints’ sticks, with a back four similar to the one that stepped out at Carrow Road.
We feel like Kyle Walker-Peters will get the chance to feature against his parent club’s arch-rivals, having extended his loan spell at St Mary’s until the end of the current campaign, which will drop Yan Valery to the bench,
Will Kyle Walker-Peters start in place of Yan Valery?
Yes
No
We expect the same Saints’ quartet to take their places in the midfield after having plenty of success against Norwich, with James Ward-Prowse captaining the side once again as a lot of fans wanted.
Shane Long will return to the fold after the Irish forward missed the last game due to a muscle complaint. We are unsure whether he will definitely take Michael Obafemi’s place in the team but having previously scored four times against Mikel Arteta’s side, we feel that this will be enough for him to be selected.
