Five big points for discussion ahead of West Ham United's Premier League trip to St Mary's to face the Saints on Saturday afternoon...
Unhappy hunting ground
West Ham United have NEVER won at St Mary’s in six visits to Southampton’s new home, earning two draws and suffering four defeats.
In fact, the Hammers have scored just one goal in those six trips to the south coast – Andy Carroll’s low free-kick in the 1-1 Premier League draw there in April 2013.
Just for the record, West Ham’s four other visits ended in a 2-0 Premier League loss in January 2002, a 1-0 Championship defeat in October 2011, goalless Premier League draws in September 2013 and February 2015 and a 1-0 top-flight reverse in February 2016.
Former Saints
Two West Ham United players will have extra motivation to help the Hammers achieve their first-ever victory at Southampton on Saturday.
Jose Fonte played 288 times for the Saints between 2010 and 2016, winning back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League in 2011 and 2012, before being appointed captain.
Michail Antonio spent a much shorter period on the south coast, being loaned to Southampton from Reading for the 2009/10 season. During his stay, he and Fonte lined up together at Wembley Stadium in the 2010 Football League Trophy final, in which Antonio scored in a 4-1 victory over Carlisle United.
Bouncebackability
Both clubs will be eager to bounce back after disappointing midweek Premier League results.
West Ham United were humbled 4-0 by Manchester City at London Stadium, while Southampton were beaten 2-1 at Swansea City.
Those results left the Hammers and the Saints eleventh and twelfth in the table respectively, with Slaven Bilic’s side holding a one-point advantage over Claude Puel’s men, who have lost five of their last six Premier League matches.
Victory on Saturday could see the winner rise into the top half, with both ninth-place Stoke City and tenth-place Burnley playing away from home.
New boy
Italy international Manolo Gabbiadini is set to be named in the Southampton squad for the first time on Saturday.
The £14m striker was snapped up from Napoli, where he has been used sparingly over the past 18 months, and Saints manager Claude Puel has admitted he will not rush the 25-year-old into action this weekend.
Having started just 19 games since the start of the 2015/16 season, and completed a full 90 minutes just once this season, Gabbiadini will likely need time to work his way up to full match-fitness.
However, the former Atalanta and Sampdoria forward has made 158 Serie A appearances and knows where the goal is, having scored 38 goals in Italy’s top-flight, so West Ham will need to be on their guard should the new boy be given his debut.
The ‘other’ Academy of Football
While West Ham United have been known as ‘The Academy of Football’ for more than half a century, Southampton are themselves developing quite a reputation for producing top-quality home-grown players.
England internationals Martin Chivers, Mick Channon, Matthew Le Tissier and Alan Shearer all came through the ranks with the Saints.
Over the past decade or so, Southampton have unearthed and developed the likes of Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers, Luke Shaw.
On Saturday, James Ward-Prowse, Jack Stephens, Sam McQueen and Josh Sims could all featured against the Hammers.
With a large catchment area, expert recruitment and high-class coaching and education programmes, Southampton’s Academy is rightly considered one of the best in the country.