Southampton V Everton The Preview Friday, 18th Feb 2022 13:51 Saturday will find out whether Frank Lampard will revive Everton or whether it is going to be a tough end to the season for them, from a Saints perspective, this is a game that could see us on the cusp of Premier League safety. A look at the Premier League table shows how important Saints taking 5 points out of the last 3 games was, indeed it was 3 games where on paper we should not have picked up a single point. If that had been the case we would be nervously looking over our shoulders going into this game against Everton, instead we are looking upwards.
For Everton they are still a little worried, in their first game under Frank Lampard they were poor in a defeat at Newcastle, who look now like they have bought their way out of trouble with 3 straight Premier League wins preceded by 2 draws, who says that money can't buy you anything ! Last time out they beat Leeds United, but by all accounts it was a very poor performance by the Yorkshire side, who along with Brentford and indeed Everton themselves are outside bets for a shock relegation battle.
Ultimately though Everton have spent in the transfer window and brought in a new boss, Frank Lampard being the 7th of the Moshiri era as owner of Everton in under 6 years. Will Lampard be the new messiah as have his 6 predecessors or will he become yet another statistic, as the Toffee's seem to lurch on with no real strategy other than to sack a manager the moment he hits a bad run. In fairness the hated Rafa Benitez gone may mean the feelgood factor alone will save Everton, but they also have back Dominic Calvert Lewin, who has played just 7 times in the League this season and Richarlison who has played started just 13 games plus 2 as sub, the fact that only Demarai Gray has scored more goals than those two suggests why they are in trouble.
Saints go into this game full of confidence, since losing at Liverpool on 27th November they have lost just twice in the league, at Arsenal in mid December and then at Wolves a month ago, a sequence of 11 Premier League games in total. We have been beaten just once at St Mary's in 11 Premier League outings, our problem though being we have won just 3 times and drawn the other 7. After doing the hardwork in drawing with Manchester City, beating Spurs and our recent draw with Manchester United, we come into a run of games against those clubs below us in the table, the arrival of Everton starts a run of 6 straight games including the bottom 3 of sides whom we really should beat according to the form guide.
That of course is often turned upside down when it comes to Southampton Football Club and we have to make the next step in a season that has slowly built momentum by firstly despatching Everton and then continuing our good form. The first step is to hit the 38 point mark, this has been good enough to avoid relegation in every season since 2010/11 and in reality in most season 34/36 has been enough. Lets hit our first target and then see where we go from there, certainly with the games coming up we have the opportunity to really get some points on the board. Ralph Hasenhuttl has some thinking to do, does he keep the 3-5-2 formation employed in the first half against United or does he start with a solid 4-4-2 that daw them home in the same game.
One thing that ralph has now is some genuine options and those that said he was a one trick pony are being proved wrong as he has showed when he has the players at his disposal he can use them and change tactics, not just at the start of a game, but even during it. I think he should maybe go for the 4-4-2 and stick with the basics of the side that played most of the second half against United. That means a back four of Livramento, Bednarek, Salisu & Perraud, in midfield JWP & Romeu in the centre with Stuart Armstrong & KWP out wide.
At Old Trafford the combination on the right of Tino Livramento & Kyle Walker Peters worked well and the complimented each other as when one surged forward the other dropped in to cover. Up fron Armando Broja and Che Adams are a good partnership, Broja gets the headlines, but Che Adams has scored as many goals and from less minutes on the pitch, so we should not underestimate Che.
Indeed on that matter on the bench we should not forget Adam Armstrong, he only has two goals, but that is more than Che had at this period in his debut season and I think Adam Armstrong will flourish in the final third of the season. The difference between now and a year ago will be the bench, aside from the goalkeeper, assuming my starting line up, Ralph will have Jack Stephens, Ibrahima Diallo, Nathan Redmond, Will Smallbone, Theo Walcott, Adam Armstrong, Yan Valery, Mohammed Elyounoussi, Moussa Djenepo & Shane Long to select his 8 outfield subs from, someone will have to miss out and we still have Nathan Tella & Lyanco to come back after injury & for that matter Thierry Small who is on the verge of breaking into Ralph Hasenhuttl's squad.
This is why we can look forward to the rest of the season with more confidence than we were doing this time last year, back then once we lost 3 or 4 of our core players we were struggling to having options off the bench, now we have those options. This won't be an easy game, Everton are not only at their strongest since the opening month of the season, but they are also rejuvenated with a new manager, our job is to bring them back to reality and show them that they are far from safe from the relegation dog fight just yet. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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