Southampton Vs Stoke City is heading toward a near sell-out in the home sections at St Mary's, with only around 760 tickets left for sale early Friday afternoon. The match is due to kick off at 3pm, and the remaining seats are now thin enough that the home end could be close to full by the time the game starts.
That matters because As Saints are playing in front of their own fans for the first time this season, and the ticket pace shows supporters have stayed loyal. Most of the seats still available are in the blocks in the Chapel stand, leaving little room for anyone still hoping to buy late.
The demand also stands in sharp contrast to the same weekend a year earlier, when Stoke City played at St Mary's in the Championship in front of 28,922. Back then there were empty seats in the Stoke section and a fair few empty seats in the home sections as well, a reminder that the atmosphere around this fixture can change quickly from one season to the next.
This year, the gap between supply and demand is much tighter. With over 24 hours still to go before kickoff, only around 760 tickets were left, which means the home sections are already on the edge of a sell-out without any need for guesswork. The remaining inventory being concentrated in the Chapel stand also suggests there is not much left to absorb any late push from supporters.
Whether the home sections are completely full by 3pm is still not confirmed, but the direction is clear enough. If the current pace holds, Stoke City's visit will be watched in front of a far more crowded St Mary's than the same fixture produced a year ago, and that is the clearest sign yet of how strongly this one has sold.
