Southampton At Sheffield Wednesday The Preview
Friday, 27th Feb 2026 10:04
Another big weekend for Saints, but not one where they will be in the play off spots by the end of it, getting into the play offs is going to be a war of attrition, it is going to be about keeping on winning games and slowly eroding the gap.
There will be some Southampton supporters who will be considering this game an easy victory and certainly on paper it is , but there are several factors that might make it a little more difficult than you might think.
At first look Sheffield Wednesday have lost every game they have played in 2026 so far, that is 10 Championship games and 1 in the FA Cup.
They have won only 1 all season, that was at Fratton Park back in September, but it is this record that will keep them going, they are now relegated, but in truth they have known their fate for the last 4 months or more.
But what they won’t want on their record and their players won’t want on their CV’s is to lose every game for the rest of the season, perhaps a record that is unprecedented and would mean that when they kick off next season they will have been 8 months without even a draw and the best part of 11 months without a win, they would be in danger of going a year without a victory.
So they might have gone down, but they won’t be going down without a fight, indeed they were a hard side to break down even in defeat, in those 10 games this year in the League, they only conceded more than 2 goals twice, the spirit and fight will not have been knocked out of them.
Now they are down, this is a landmark game for them, not only their first since relegation was confirmed, but a game played on their own ground, for this will be about pride by the supporters in their club, a chance to show they stand by it and that will transmit to the players.
After making headlines last week for all the wrong reasons, going down by being beaten at their local and fiercest rivals, they will be keen to make them for the right reasons this week.
So Saints task will be to just quietly and methodically get on with the task, we can’t let emotion be a factor in this game, we have to not give them the chance to get up a head of steam and rouse their crowd.
No we have to turn this game into one where the fight they have had in recent weeks is well and truly knocked out of them.
The League table shows that Wednesday have -7 points, but even without that points deduction they would still only have 5 points, 22 behind second from bottom.
They have been decimated due to their previous owner and the club going into administration, they have had to play kids after losing around a dozen players in the summer and another 4 in the January window, including ex Saint Yan Valery who went out on loan to Young Boys in Switzerland.
They have been replaced by either free transfers or loan signings as they remain in administration.
So on paper this should be a win, but the form book shows it might not be an easy one.
Tonda Eckert in that same 10 game period since the New Year has won 5 of them, drawn 3 and lost only 2, he has rejigged his squad and we are now in good form, so we go into this game with confidence.
Unlike the Owl’s we have some good options not only on the pitch, but on the bench, with respect to Sheffield Wednesday, the 9 who were on the bench against QPR with two additions should be good enough to beat them in their current predicament.
This is not being arrogant or gloating, I have every sympathy for their plight and I have stated how it has decimated their squad, but when you have the likes of Ross Stewart, Tom Fellows, Sam Edozie, Caspar Jander & ex Sheffield Wednesday loanee Shea Charles coming off the bench, it shows the quality we have in our squad.
I would expect there not too many surprises in the starting line up, assuming that no one is ready to return from injury and there have been no knocks picked up on Tuesday night or in training, it is about Tonda managing his squad.
So in goal and at the back, I expect there to be no change, in the centre of midfield, I would think that we might bring back Shea Charles for Casper Jander, and up front Ross Stewart in for Cyle Larin.
These are just reversing the changes made by Eckert on Tuesday night, the third change where Matsuki came in for Tom Fellows, I do not expect to be reversed after his performance against QPR.
We need to be on guard for complacency, make sure that we don’t fall into the same trap at our most recent outing on the road at Leicester City.
We need to get hold of this game from the start, hopefully get an early goal and silence the crowd, Wednesday don’t score many goals, only 20 in 34 games, but if they get an early one themselves then they will fight tooth and nail to hold their ground, backed by a crowd who will cheer them on like it is a cup final.
We know that feeling from when we drew with Manchester City last season to ensure that we would not have the joint worst Premier League record. The Saints supporters roared the team on to a glorious goalless draw.
We are playing catch up in the League at the moment, that is not going to change this weekend, our draw against Charlton has ensured that, so we just have to roll up our sleeves and keep grinding out wins, we have the likes of Wrexham & to a lesser extent Hull looking over their shoulders at the moment and that is not a comfortable position to be in.
In horse racing quite often the horse coming in off the rails and from behind wins the race and if we do make the play offs, then we will go into them with a psychological advantage.
All Photos Via Reuters
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