Match Pack: Saints vs Newcastle United

THE MATCH

Saints vs Newcastle United
Premier League
St Mary's Stadium
Saturday 25th January, 3pm GMT

THE OFFICIALS

Referee: Sam Barrott
Assistants: Lee Betts, Wade Smith
Fourth official: Simon Hooper
VAR: Chris Kavanagh
Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

Whilst there was plenty of encouragement from the visits to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest last week, Saints didn't come away with anything to show from the fixtures in terms of points. Ivan Jurić will be hoping a return to St Mary's with a reminder of what went right over the last seven days will be the perfect combination for building some momentum.

They come up against a Newcastle side who were the most in-form in the league before Bournemouth stunned them at St James' Park with a 4-1 victory last weekend. Eddie Howe's side will be looking to get back on track when they visit St Mary's, but the hosts will be certain to take note of what worked for Bournemouth.

TEAM NEWS

After stating he could be out for up to six weeks, Jurić's provided a positive update on the fitness of Tyler Dibling: "we are a little bit more optimistic, we will see next week. Next week we can say something more."

Elsewhere Kamaldeen will also miss Saturday's clash with "a little problem with his hamstring", alongside new signing Albert Grønbæk with Saturday coming too soon following his arrival. The manager noted goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was struggling with a problem, but said: "We will see tomorrow. I hope he will be fine."

THE MANAGERS

Ivan Jurić: "We have to raise our energy levels to do 95 minutes with high pressure and intensity. You cannot change everything but the players understand and are working hard. Every day that we work, we are getting better. They understand more and I understand more of them. The players like it because they have noticed they are getting better.”

Eddie Howe: "We need to learn from Bournemouth, we need a response. I have no doubt the players will respond. We will go to Southampton absolutely focused. Southampton are a proud football club, and we will have to be at our absolute best. I take that they're more mixed now, I'd say that there are still elements of that possession-based play in their game. I don't think that will go away quickly because they've been playing that way for a long period of time, the new manager is obviously embracing that as well."

TOP SCORERS

Southampton

Goals:
Cameron Archer 5
Tyler Dibling 4
Armstrong, Harwood-Bellis 3

Assists:
Mateus Fernandes 4
Seven players 2
Yuki Sugawara 1

Newcastle United

Goals:
Alexander Isak 17
Anthony Gordon 8
Harvey Barnes 5

Assists:
Bruno Guimarães 8
Jacob Murphy 7
Gordon, Isak 5

ONES TO WATCH

Paul Onuachu: Saints fans got the moment they'd been waiting for on Sunday at the City Ground, with Paul Onuachu's first goal for the club. With the height of Newcastle's defence the Nigerian is likely to be involved in more aerial duals, but he's already won 65.5% of these so far this season.

Onuachu scored in three successive games on two separate occasions last season whilst on loan at Trabzonspor, showing what the confidence of a goal can do to his game.

Anthony Gordon: Despite the defeat to Bournemouth last time out, Anthony Gordon can still be considered a man-in-form at the moment, often going under appreciated with his teammate Alexander Isak on a similarly hot streak.

Gordon scored or assisted in each of Newcastle's nine game winning run, making it 13 goal contributions in 27 games across all competitions so far.

HEAD TO HEAD

Played: 109
Saints: 38
Draws: 24
Newcastle: 47

LAST FIVE MEETINGS

August 2024: Newcastle 1-0 Saints
April 2023: Newcastle 3-1 Saints (S Armstrong)
January 2023: Newcastle 2-1 Saints League Cup (Adams)
January 2023: Saints 0-1 Newcastle League Cup
November 2022: Saints 1-4 Newcastle (Perraud)

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