Southampton‘s first Premier League game since their relegation to the Championship was confirmed sees the Saints host Aston Villa at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.
The 20th-placed side were condemned to the drop in last weekend’s 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, thus becoming the first Premier League side to ever go down with as many as seven games remaining.
Following Ivan Juric‘s premature exit, Simon Rusk will take charge of Southampton’s final seven games with the help of Adam Lallana, and the caretaker coach has almost every player at his disposal.
Only Albert Gronbaek (tendon) is sidelined with an injury at the minute, but Flynn Downes is also out of Saturday’s match as he serves the second of a two-game suspension for picking up 10 yellow cards.
However, fellow midfielder Will Smallbone returned from a hip injury off the bench against Spurs and could now force his way into the XI alongside Lesley Ugochukwu, as Joe Aribo makes way.
Rusk took charge of two Saints games back in December, opting for a wing-back system on both occasions, so Smallbone and Ugochukwu could operate in a bank of four alongside Ryan Manning and Kyle Walker-Peters.
A shift to a three-man defence would open the door for the experienced Jack Stephens to return alongside Jan Bednarek and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, while Aaron Ramsdale starts in goal as ever.
An additional defender means one fewer attacker, though, and Tyler Dibling may be the unfortunate one to be sacrificed, as Mateus Fernandes starts behind Kamaldeen Sulemana and Paul Onuachu; the latter should replace ex-Villa man Cameron Archer up top.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Smallbone, Ugochukwu, Manning; Fernandes; Onuachu, Sulemana
> Click here to see how Southampton could line up for this game
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