Southampton are set to play Montpellier HSC in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Saturday in Spain.
The Saints were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League after they won the league's playoff final 1-0 against Leeds United, while Montpellier finished 12th in France's Ligue 1 with 41 points from 34 games.
Match preview
© Reuters
Southampton achieved promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking after finishing last in England's top flight in 2022-23 with just 20 points from 38 games.
In the Championship, the Saints finished fourth and accumulated an impressive 87 points from 46 matches.
Southampton scored 87 goals and conceded 63, and these were the league's third-best offensive and 14th best defensive records respectively.
The team's frailty at the back will be of concern to manager Russell Martin, especially as they will face superior opposition next season in England's top flight.
However, their playoff final victory against Leeds on May 26 will no doubt help Martin address these issues in the transfer window considering their win was worth an extra £140m to the club.
Southampton beat Bordeaux 3-2 last time out on July 24 in their second pre-season friendly, having won 7-1 against Eastleigh on July 19.
![Jordan Ferri (12) of Montpellier HSC during the friendly match between Girona FC and Montpellier HSC played at the Royalverd Training Center sports facilities, July 20 ,2024[on July 25, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/30/jordan-ferri.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Jordan Ferri (12) of Montpellier HSC during the friendly match between Girona FC and Montpellier HSC played at the Royalverd Training Center sports facilities, July 20 ,2024[on July 25, 2024]")
© Imago
Opponents Montpellier will have been disappointed with their league campaign as while they also finished 12th in 2022-23, they ended last term with nine fewer points.
Even when taking into account that Ligue 1 was reduced to 18 teams in 2023-24, their 1.21 points per game record was still less than the 1.32 points per game they achieved in 2022-23.
Last season, La Paillade scored 43 goals and conceded 48 times, and this made them the division's joint ninth-best offensive and 12th best defensive team respectively.
To Montpellier's credit, they did concede 14 fewer goals in 2023-24 than they did in 2022-23, although they did also score 22 fewer goals.
Manager Michel Der Zakarian previously coached the side from May 2017 until June 2021, but he returned to the club in February 2023.
His team ended the season in relatively strong form, losing just once in their last eight top-flight games, and they drew their only pre-season friendly 3-3 against Girona on July 20.
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![Pre-Season friendly match Khalil Fayad of Montpellier SHC during the Pre-Season friendly match between Girona FC and Montpellier HSC played at Ronald Verd training centre on July 20, 2024 [on July 25, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/30/khalil-fayad.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Pre-Season friendly match Khalil Fayad of Montpellier SHC during the Pre-Season friendly match between Girona FC and Montpellier HSC played at Ronald Verd training centre on July 20, 2024 [on July 25, 2024]")
© Imago
Che Adams has completed his transfer from the Saints to Torino and will play no part on Saturday.
Elsewhere, midfielder Flynn Downes and defender Yukinari Sugawara could be in line to start after the pair played for half an hour against Bordeaux.
Adam Lallana could be set to make an appearance for Southampton after he was originally supposed to start the first half against Eastleigh, but he dropped out as a precaution due to discomfort.
As for Montpellier, they changed all eleven players during the match against Girona, with most of these substitutions coming at half time.
However, Khalil Fayad was subbed off in the 32nd minute and was the only player in the starting XI to not see out the entire half.
His replacement Wahbi Khazri did score twice in the match, so it would not be a surprise to see him start against Southampton.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Lis; Sugawara, Harwood-Bellis, Whitmarsh, Manning; Alcaraz, Downes; Amo-Ameyaw, Lallana, Robinson; Mara
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Lecomte; Sacko, Djemba-Mbappe, Sagnan, Luce; Bares, Savanier; Nordin, Khazri, Coulibaly; Ngosso
We say: Southampton 3-2 Montpellier HSC
Southampton's pre-season friendlies have seen plenty of goals, so expect a similarly exciting match on Saturday.
Considering that Montpellier have only played one pre-season game so far, their energy levels might be a tier below the Saints' and this disparity should see Martin's side come into the clash as favourites.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Lewis Nolan
