Stoke v Southampton - Not a real rivalry

Article by Southampton Correspondent Mark Middleton

Southampton travel to the Britannia Stadium this weekend to take on an unpredictable Stoke City side for the sixty second time. Saints have won twenty seven and Stoke twenty four with the remaining fixtures ending in draws. Saints have outscored their opponents by the massive margin of 96-91.

Now I mention these stats as Stoke V Saints is not a fixture that has been regularly played over the course of the last 127 years, so there is no real rivalry between the two clubs in fact this is only the twentieth meeting since 1980, which only goes to show the clubs have not been good at the same time.

Saints rise and fall (and rise again) is in direct comparison to Stokes City's fortunes as Saints fell out of the Premier League in 2005, Stoke were to appoint Tony Pullis as there manager a few months later and a few seasons later were in the Premier League after a twenty three year absence (Saints spent 27 years in the top division). At the same time it seemed that the entire first team squad at St Mary's left for the Potteries Danny Higginbotham, Rory Delap, Kenwyne Jones and Ricardo Fuller and gave more effort and showed more discipline than they ever did for Saints. I know this is not entirely accurate, but shows the changing fortunes of the two clubs.

Now as Saints and Stoke have not been good at the same time I was wondering if this was the season that saw the clubs fortunes move apart once more. There is no doubt Saints are good, they play high up the pitch, can play on the ground and be more direct if necessary and defensively they have been outstanding and they simply stop the opposition from playing.

I am not saying Stoke are bad, but they need to pick up points soon as playing well and losing can soon become a habit and it does seem that Mark Hughes has a plan A (be rubbish) but no plan B which would involve being the opposite. That could be a little harsh and I hope he gets it right as I have no animosity towards Stoke and would like to see them do well.

The game on Saturday, will in my opinion be fierce, fast and furious and I expect both teams to try and play a bit, but if Stoke pass the ball about in their own half consistently Saints will win.

I see Schneiderlin and Wanyama being Saints keys in this game dominating the middle of the park and driving Saints forward.

Stoke should play Kenwyne Jones as Saints have really struggled with big, strong aggressive runners and not so much with tall lanky centre forwards, Lakaku last season must have thought it was Christmas when he played Saints and Bentake didn't score but made life really uncomfortable.

My prediction:

Stoke 1 Saints 2

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