If ever Saints need to break that Goodison Park League hoodoo that stretches back to the 1990's, they go there with new confidence after two straight wins in cup competitions., can they turn the Goodison Park atmosphere toxic.

Southampton go to an Everton team in worse form than themselves and with the Toffee's fans now in revolutionary mood and protest planned for both before and after the game, Saints task is clear, get off to a good start, get the crowd on the home teams back and take the 3 points.

Simple, but then again this is Saints.

Nathan Jones has turned a corner this week, he now has to build on that.

Hopefully he will keep things simple, the formation played against Manchester City was one that the players felt comfortable with and they will go into the game with confidence.

Jones problem will be a nice one to have, who plays where and who drops in and out of the side.

Does he keep faith with the starting line up against Manchester City or does he bring back those who were on the bench.

The goalkeeper and three centre backs looked comfortable and in Caleta-Car we seem to have found an organiser at the back and someone who can play the ball.

In the centre of midfield, hopefully Romeo Lavia will be fit to play and we could do worse than keep him paired with Ibrahima Diallo, leaving James Ward Prowse to get forward more.

Kyle Walker Peters has adapted well to the wing back position, but who fills the other role, Moussa Djenepo had a great game capped with a superb ball, does Jones keep faith with him or does he give a League debut to new signing Mislav Orsic.

The Croatian only had 10 minutes or so including injury time against City and had little time to show what he can do, but ultimately he has the experience we need, this decision will be a tough call.

Up front is another toughie, Che Adams was rested against City and in his absence Sekou Mara scored his first goal and Adam Armstrong also had a strong game where he built on his goal at Palace in the FA Cup, Jones has to perm 2 from 3 up front.

All in all though the squad has an extra two men since December and is stronger for it, the players who came on as sub on Wednesday including Moi Elyounoussi & Romain Perraud, plus those getting on such as Sam Edozie, Joe Aribo and indeed those not involved such as Ashley Maitland Niles and new signing Carlos "Charly" Alcaraz will also be hoping to play some part in the game.

So things are looking up for Saints both in terms of the players now available but in the spirit and confidence that has suddenly infused into the squad.

On the other hand Everton must suddenly be a little worried, their players can't be looking forward to playing in front of a crowd that is ready to protest, Saints job is to make sure they have something to get on their teams back for.

An early goal or two would do the trick, Goodison Park in the last 50 years has often been a graveyard for us, we rarely have won there and aside from two games I think, we havent won there in the League since 1974 when we won 3-0 on the final day of the season but it wasn't enough to keep us up.

So what better time to break this hoodoo and in doing so giving us a great chance to pull ourselves up the League table.

A draw would not be a disaster, but defeat is unthinkable and would make avoiding relegation very tough.

Fingers crossed then on Saturday, but we go there in a lot better condition than we were a week ago and that is something I didn't think I would be writing as we headed for South London last weekend or indeed around 30 mins into the Palace game.

We took a big step against City but they are only small steps in the bigger picture, we need to make sure it is another big step on Saturday and make sure that it is the Everton fans singing "Frank Lampard your football is sh*t"

For those going to the game, our Rough Guide To Everton has all the info you need, read it using the link below.

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/59316/a-rough-guide-to-e

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 12:20 - Jan 13 Stick with the starting XI from Wednesday. With our new signings we then have options off the bench if needed. It looked to me that we started the match with a back 4 (Lyanco at RB and KWP at LB) on Wednesday, only shifting to a back 5 in the second half to protect the lead. I hope NJ isn’t tempted to start with a back 5 on Saturday. The back 4 gave Djenepo license to roam a bit and that contributed to the second goal on Wednesday.

3

1962saint added 12:33 - Jan 13 The two recent cup wins have given a little more faith in Nathan Jones’ management ability but, on Saturday, he has the most difficult opponent to overcome. Many reading this will be bewildered and suggest that away trips to Man U, Man C, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea etc would be far more of a test. However, if he could mastermind a win on Saturday he would achieve something never done by Ralph, Ronald Koeman, Mauricio Pochettino, Claude Puel, or any other manager since 1997. That is to win a league game away at Everton. Goodison Park is a graveyard for the Saints. This is hard to understand as, in some of the years, Everton have been poor and lost many of their home games. Saints have enjoyed some good seasons, with Koeman, Pochettino, and others winning at Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs , even Man City since the league last win at Everton, getting 3 points there has proved to be Mission Impossible. The last win was in 1997 achieved by another manager called Jones (Dave). I understand that they have plans to move to a new stadium in the near future. It can’t come soon enough, I hate Goodison Park.

2

Colburn added 13:52 - Jan 13 As I've said, give Jones a chance to learn, adapt and bring his ethos and character into the club and the team. I'm still disgusted by those abusing his 'style' after 3 or 4 games, and during the game! You people have no class and no vision. Delighted to see the board act positively this last week.. Come on Saints! Come on Nathan!
11

underweststand added 14:03 - Jan 13 Another visit to Everton, where we have the worst away record in the club's history. Those younger fans on the site may have to ask their grandfathers about wins at Goodison as they are very few and a very long time in between. As some have noted (above) Wednesday's win over City was one of the best performances in many a year, and we can only hope that we can raise our game to the same standard and get all three points. Mara has waited a long time for his first goal, and scoring against City must have been a boost to his confidence, and hopefully he can start on a scoring run. The past criticism about Djenepo has not been entirely unwarranted, but his effort on Wednesday must go down as a some sort of a classic for him. No-one expects a win at Goodison but then again, no-one gave us a hope v. City and look what happened. COYR .

2

StAnt added 14:05 - Jan 13 This is a league game so Everton are in far better form than we are.
-2

SWH1748 added 06:09 - Jan 14 Simples just tell them it’s a cup game 🤷‍♂️😄
1

KriSaint added 11:50 - Jan 14 I agree with most comments. Good article Nick. I hate Goodison Park as much as any, but there are some positive circumstances before we go to Goodison today. One of them is Evertons players', managers' and fans' questionable mood... I'm afraid, unfortunately, that Romeo Lavia is not fully fit, so I expect him to be replaced. Elyounoussi played ok when he came on vs City - in a deeper role than usually, but maybe Aribo plays from the start (in a deeper role) or why not Alcarez? This is the 4th match in 14 days, so maybe Arma gets a rest and Orsic starts? I expect Adams to start in stead of Mara, who ran his lungs out 2.5 days ago. There will and should be changes in the team that beat City 2.5 days ago to add energy to the team. COME ON YOU SAINTS <3

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Rochdale Polls