Southampton host Preston North End at St Mary’s hoping to record victory in order to keep their hopes of automatic promotion alive with just a few games remaining.
Date: 16/04/24
Kick-off time: 20:00
Venue: St Mary’s Stadium
Dreams of an immediate return to the Premier League are still alive for Southampton, even with just five games left to go. It will be a tough task and they will have to rely on others, but if they keep winning they will give themselves a chance. They currently are in fourth, sitting on 81 points, six behind Leeds in third and trail the top two of Ipswich and Leeds by eight and seven. However, those teams have played two more games than Southampton, with the exception of the Foxes who have played one more. If the Saints were to win their two games in hand, they would go level with Leeds and still have to play them. This means that every game left is a must win, otherwise they will have to settle for a play-off place.
In contrast, Preston have very little to play for in mid-table. Though, in 10th, they are eight points back from the top six with 12 points still to play for. However, there are a number of teams ahead of them who they would have to overcome. That being said, they would like to finish as high as possible, and that would start with victory over Southampton.
The visitors will be hopeful of getting on the scoresheet against a team who have kept just one clean sheet since mid-February. Their main threat will come from Will Keane, who has scored 13 goals so far this season. Preston may have a more difficult time of keeping their hosts out as Russell Martin’s side have scored 10 in their last four home games. Adam Armstrong leads the way for them with 20 goals, and this is a figure which is also the second highest in the entire league. He also has 12 assists, highlighting both his scoring and creative prowess.
These two sides have met just once since 2011, and that was the reverse fixture earlier this season. The points were shared on that afternoon in October in dramatic fashion as it ended 2-2. Southampton took the lead through Kyle Walker-Peters in the first half, but Preston turned it around in three second-half minutes with goals from Milutin Osmajic and Brad Potts. The Saints got their equaliser right at the death as Ched Evans deflected a header by keeper Gavin Bazunu, who had come up for the corner, into his own net.
Championship 
