Southampton welcome Watford to St Mary’s this weekend in what will be an absolutely crucial game down at the bottom of the Premier League.
The Saints find themselves in 19th place with just nine points to their name from 13 games, whereas the Hornets find themselves one point below Southampton in 20th.
Obviously, the loser of this encounter will head into December rooted to the bottom of the table, so there is plenty at stake in the battle for survival.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have conceded the most goals in the division with 31 – the most by a single side in Europe’s top five leagues – whereas Watford have scored the least goals in the Premier League this term with just eight strikes.
Nevertheless, here’s the XI that we think the former RB Leipzig boss should select for this crucial game…
Southampton lined up in a 4-3-3 formation last time out against Arsenal, and were excellent having had 21 shots to the Gunners’ 12 – it was only for some extremely wasteful finishing that the Saints didn’t win the game.
We think that Hasenhuttl needs to stick with this system, but there are also some changes he needs to make in terms of personnel.
The Austrian coach revealed that Stuart Armstrong – who we outlined could soon become Southampton’s most important midfielder – will miss the game due to injury.
Instead of simply bringing Oriol Romeu back into the fold, Hasenhuttl should bring 20-year-old Callum Slattery in from the wilderness to replicate the Scot’s energy and tempo in the middle of the park – none of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Romeu or James Ward-Prowse have the intensity needed to press effectively.
Elsewhere, Hasenhuttl also revealed that Jannik Vestergaard has been ill and may be a doubt for the game, although the Dane wasn’t even on the bench last time out anyway – as a result, Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens should start.
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In attack, Moussa Djenepo must start having began the Arsenal game on the bench following international duty – we have already seen how the Malian can win games alone with moments of brilliance such as against Brighton and Sheffield United, which could be the difference against Watford.
In other Southampton news, Hasenhuttl must be wary of this Watford duo…
