da bet nacional： Southampton travel to Hull City in the Premier League this weekend looking to get back to winning ways in the top flight.
da brdice： Claude Puel’s side were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea at home last Sunday, a defeat which ended a six-game unbeaten run that had seen the Saints move up to eighth in the table.
However, they bounced back on Thursday night by picking up a historic 2-1 success against Inter Milan in the Europa League at St Mary’s, with goals from stand-in captain Virgil van Dijk, and an own goal from Yuto Nagatomo, cancelling out Mauro Icardi’s opener.
The south coast outfit now revert back to the bread and butter of the league as they look to equal – or even better – the sixth-placed finish they achieved last season.
Here are three reasons why they will get back to winning ways and pick up three points at the KCOM Stadium…
Confidence
The Southampton players would have taken a lot of confidence from the morale-boosting victory against a European giant in Inter Milan, and there will be a real feel-good factor in the squad leading up to the trip north.
Closing in on a place in the knockout stages of the Europa League, Claude Puel will know that a repeat performance from Thursday night should see his side take all three points against the Tigers.
Rotation
While some supporters may not agree with it, no-one can argue that the rotation system that Puel has implemented isn’t working.
The Frenchman made five changes for the win against Inter, and he is likely to make a similar amount of alterations to his starting XI at the KCOM Stadium.
This means the side should still be quite fresh, with Steven Davis and Jordy Clasie set to replace Thursday’s tireless midfield duo Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and James Ward-Prowse for example.
Charlie Austin
Another player that was rested for the visit of Inter, the striker came on in the second half when his side were losing 1-0.
Of course, it could be a coincidence that Saints turned it around and ran out 2-1 winners when their star striker was on the pitch, but most would agree that it wasn’t.
Having only played for 30 minutes, the 27-year-old should be quite well rested and still provides the biggest goal threat in the team, having scored seven goals in 13 appearances in all competitions this term.
Hull’s form
Despite a good start to the campaign, Mike Phelan’s team are in a wretched run of form and they appear to be there for the taking right now.
Hull have lost their last six matches in the Premier League, including a humiliating 6-0 thrashing away at Bournemouth.
With a number of injury issues to contend with and little confidence within the squad, Southampton should fancy their chances of taking all three points back to the south coast.