New Head Coach Mark Wotte is set to make his Saints managerial start tonight at Carrow Road following Jan Poortvliet’s exit on Friday night.
The Saints enter a tough period, with tonight’s game being the first of three in a week.
Tonight’s game is another six pointer with Norwich sitting in 19th on 29 points. Saints are just three points behind and a win for Wotte’s men could put them on level points with the Canaries.
Vital Quotes:
‘Norwich reacted very well to their new coach with a 4-0 win, so let’s do it ourselves!’
‘Every match is crucial for us and gives us the opportunity to win three points and get ourselves out of trouble. We will approach every game looking for a win and we won’t even talk about defeat.’
‘We’re after a winning start,’ Wotte expressed, ‘but if we can’t do that then we will be back here on Saturday to give our fans a home victory. Everybody knows that it’s all about results at the moment.’
Norwich City Team News:
New Norwich boss Bryan Gunn has clean bill of players, and is most likely to stick with the team that beat Barnsley 4-0.
Player to watch: Jamie Cureton
Cureton has been re-called from his loan spell at Barnsley and the centre forward has a good scoring record against the Saints, and with a goal last week in front of the Norwich faithful, Cureton will be looking to steer the Canaries out of trouble.
Southampton Team News:
Saints young starlet Andrew Surman will miss tonight’s match thanks to picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Doncaster.
Adam Lallana may start tonight for the Saints after recovering from an ankle injury, while Matthew Patterson is still out following his red card for his foul on Vidic in the F.A Cup.
Player to watch: David McGoldrick
Being Southampton’s top scorer with seven league goals, the 21 year old will be looking to give the Saints a vital three points.
Match Facts & Stats
The fixture last year resulted in a 2-1 victory for the Canaries thanks to goals from Jamie Cureton.
The match at St. Mary’s this season is their only home win of the season thanks to McGoldrick’s penalty and a wonder Jordan Robertson strike.
Ref Watch:
Mr. Lee Mason (Lancashire)
Match Prediction:
Norwich 1 – 1 Saints
Next Fixtures:
Swansea at St. Mary’s, Saturday 31st January
