Southampton head to Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night, as the 2023/24 Championship campaign gets underway.
Southampton make the journey up to South Yorkshire to face a newly-promoted Sheffield Wednesday side tomorrow night.
It’ll mark the start of Russell Martin’s Southampton tenure and the club’s first game in the Football League since 2012, with the Owls returning to the second tier after a two-year hiatus in League One.
Martin’s side have played five games in pre-season, winning one against Reading, drawing one against Goztepe, and losing against Benfica, Bournemouth, and AZ Alkmaar.
Southampton team news
There’s no immediate injury news for the Saints. Martin though is boosted by the likes of James Ward-Prowse who remains at the club for the time being, though whether he and the likes of Romeo Lavia feature – and if so how heavily – remains to be seen.
New signigns Ryan Manning and Shea Charles look set to be named in the XI.
Predicted XI
Bazunu (GK)
Manning
Charles
Stephens
Walker-Peters
Ward-Prowse
Smallbone
Edozie
Alcaraz
Tella
A. Armstrong
Martin looks set to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with new signing Charles sarting at centre-back and fellow summer arrival Manning starting on the left.
Ward-Prowse and Will Smallbone look set to occupy the two deeper-lying midfield position with an attacking midfield three of Samuel Edozie, Carlos Alcaraz, and the imressive Nathan Tella.
That leaves Adam Armstrong up front on his own – last time he played in the Championship he netted 28 goals in the 2020/21 season with Blackburn Rovers.
Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 8pm and will be shown live on Sky Sports.
