Saints make four changes to the side that went down bravely at Spurs a couple of weeks ago. Alex McCarthy replaces Angus Gunn in goal. Kyle Walker-Peters makes his debut at right back. Jannik Vestergaard and Stuart Armstrong return. Missing out: Jan Bednarek, Oriol Romeu and Nathan Redmond.
Burnley make just the one change to the XI named for the goalless draw with Arsenal. Matt Lowton is replaced by Phil Bardsley.
The teams
Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Stephens, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Boufal, Long, Ings.
Subs: Adams, Djenepo, Romeu, Obafemi, Smallbone, Gunn, Bednarek.
Burnley: Pope, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Rodriguez, Wood.
Subs: Brownhill, Brady, Hart, Pieters, Lennon, Vydra, Long.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
Preamble
Saints and Burnley don’t put on a show when they get together that often. Their last six meetings have produced a grand total of nine goals, and three of those came in a lopsided 3-0 win for Burnley on the opening day of this season. Needless to say, the goalscorers in that one, Ashley Barnes and Johann Berg Gudmundsson, are missing today.
There’s not a whole load riding on this game, either. It’s true that neither side is totally safe from relegation worry. But it’s also surely the case that, relatively comfy in mid-table and seven clear of the drop zone, both sides are far too good to be seriously concerned about their fate. Saints deserved far more than the square root of eff all they got from recent visits to Anfield and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Burnley have recently won at Old Trafford. So there’s little jeopardy in this.
What I’m doing here, brazenly, dear reader, is tempting fate. If this low-energy preamble doesn’t earn us a rollocking seven-goal thriller, nothing will. Come on, footballing gods, teach the MBM some humility. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm.
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