Premier League football returns to St Mary's Stadium on Saturday afternoon, when Southampton welcome Nottingham Forest in the second gameweek of the 2024-25 campaign.
Russell Martin's men succumbed to a 1-0 loss to Newcastle United on matchday one, despite having an extra man for the majority of the match, while the Tricky Trees drew 1-1 with Bournemouth.
Match preview
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Those of a Newcastle persuasion would have certainly felt that justice was served at St James' Park last weekend, where Fabian Schar picked up a 28th-minute red card for leaning his head into Southampton man Ben Brereton Diaz, who made the most of the contact to say the least.
However, Eddie Howe's 10 men still stunted the 11 Southampton shirts on the field - thanks partly to wasteful finishing from Martin's side - and a solitary Joelinton strike from an Alex McCarthy mistake ensured that the Saints would head home empty-handed.
Nevertheless, Southampton head coach Martin was particularly upbeat at the final whistle, hailing his players for causing Newcastle a world of problems on their own territory, even if the newly-promoted outfit did have a numerical advantage for over an hour.
That slender loss extended the hosts' dismal Premier League sequence to 14 games without a win, though, but St Mary's was the venue for the Saints' most recent top-flight success, a 1-0 victory over Leicester City in March 2023.
Southampton also held their own in friendly draws against Getafe and Lazio on home soil during the summer months, and only Ipswich Town (59) netted more home goals than the Saints' 57 in the 2023-24 Championship campaign.
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While Southampton's defeat to Newcastle was overshadowed by the red-card controversy, Forest's showdown with Bournemouth was marred by a sickening leg injury to Danilo just a few minutes in, making the on-field action trivial for the remainder of the afternoon.
The last 3pm kickoff to conclude on August 17 as a result of that lengthy stoppage, Nuno Espirito Santo's men responded well to losing Danilo as Chris Wood fired the Garibaldi ahead before the break, but Antoine Semenyo popped up to restore Bournemouth parity with four minutes of normal time remaining.
Seeing his side lose their narrow advantage in the dying embers did leave Santo "disappointed", but a point against Andoni Iraola's rising Cherries is hardly a disastrous start for the Tricky Trees, who could soon bring in additional firepower with the signing of Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah.
However, Forest did not need the Gunners attacker to win their last two away games of the 2023-24 top-flight season - coincidentally against two promoted sides in Burnley and Sheffield United - and they could now prevail in three straight Premier League games on the road for the first time since 1995.
The Garibaldi's sensational St Mary's results gives rise to that scenario coming to fruition, as Forest have never lost to Southampton on the Saints' ground - winning four and drawing two such contests - their best away record against a single team in the competition.
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Team News
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No Southampton players picked up any physical problems in the loss to Newcastle, and none of Kamaldeen Sulemana (ankle), Ross Stewart or Adam Lallana have been ruled out of the visit of Forest just yet, while Lesley Ugochukwu and Matheus Fernandes are pushing for their debuts too.
However, goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu will be out for the rest of the calendar year due to his Achilles rupture, but McCarthy should still keep Joe Lumley at bay despite his costly mistake in the defeat to the Magpies.
Should Brereton Diaz feature and Southampton fail to win on Saturday, the Chilean would have gone 16 games without ending up on the victorious side in the Premier League, the joint second-longest streak in history after Marvin Sordell (17).
Meanwhile, Forest quickly erected curtains around the stricken Danilo after the Brazilian's stomach-churning ankle injury, and Santo confirmed after the game that he had suffered a fracture, which will sideline him for months.
Ryan Yates was given the nod to come in for Danilo last weekend, but Nicolas Dominguez and Elliot Anderson are also vying for selection, while Nikola Milenkovic could now make his Premier League debut after serving a ban carried over from last season.
It may be too soon for Aston Villa loanee Alex Moreno to earn his baptism, while Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga reportedly sustained knocks last weekend but are ostensibly good to go for Saturday.
Whether Nketiah arrives before Saturday's showdown remains to be seen, but Wood should hold off the threat of Taiwo Awoniyi for the time being as he bids to score in the first two gameweeks of a league season for the very first time.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Edozie, Smallbone, Downes, Aribo, Walker-Peters; Armstrong, Brereton Diaz
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Sels; Williams, Boly, Murillo, Aina; Yates, Sangare; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood
We say: Southampton 1-1 Nottingham Forest
With a little bit more of a killer instinct, Southampton could have made the long journey home from Newcastle with one or indeed three points, but their issues when it comes to ruthlessness will not be solved in a week.
The Saints also possess a horrendous home record against Forest, who have made a habit of beating promoted teams away from home in recent months, but from our point of view, this battle has low-scoring stalemate written all over it.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
