Southampton prepare for Stoke City Cup fixture before back-to-back must-win matches | OneFootball

Following the recent 1-0 away defeat against Manchester City, Southampton are currently bottom-placed in the Premier League table with only point from their first nine matches. While Russell Martin's side weren't expected to avoid defeat against the defending Premier League Champions, the Saints could have registered better results against Ipswich Town, Bournemouth and Leicester City.

The significance of those three matches is evident now as after the next two league matches against similar bottom-table sides Everton and Wolves, Russell Martin's side will play five consecutive games against top Premier League teams. Those fixtures include playing Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa, who are currently inside the top-five position in the league table.

Southampton prepare for Stoke City Cup fixture before back-to-back must-win matches

Further, Brighton and Tottenham Hotspurs are one of the best goalscoring sides in the English top flight this season, hence, taking a few points against them would require a consistent and resilient performance. Therefore, Southampton must take wins against Everton and Wolves, otherwise they could be behind other bottom-table teams by a lot of points.

Recently, star fullback Kyle Walker-Peters discussed about Southampton's ongoing league campaign and highlighted the need to take an important win to build the foundation for making a comeback in the Premier League. Before playing Everton, Southampton currently have a Carabao Cup fixture against Championship side Stoke City.

The Saints defeated Sean Dyche's side in the third round of the Cup competition on penalties, and are aiming to take a convincing win over Stoke City before facing Everton again next week. Stoke City also have had a struggling start to their Championship campaign, and the visitors are nineteenth in the league table following their recent 2-0 defeat against Sheffield United.

Narcis Pelach's side are winless in their previous four league matches, and were defeated by Michael Carrick's Middlesborough last month, whom they had defeated 5-0 in the second round of the Carabao Cup. Hence, Stoke City have been inconsistent in their previous ten matches, which means that Southampton need to quickly score a few first half goals to take a convincing win in order to advance to the fifth round.

First-team players such as Yukinari Sugawara and Will Smallbone are expected to be unavailable for this match as they continue their recovery after picking up an injury against Leicester City. Moreover, Championship's second top-scorer last season Adam Armstrong could return to the starting lineup against Stoke City.

A lot of lineup changes are expected and manager Russell Martin can give more playing time to Kamaldeen Sulemana and Paul Onuachu as well. This match is a great opportunity for several Southampton forwards to find their goalscoring form and it remains to be seen whether the Saints can advance through to the next round of the Carabao Cup.