Southampton were expected to refresh their side for Southampton Vs Millwall at St Mary's this afternoon, with James Ward-Prowse and Keven Schlotterbeck likely to come straight in for a 3pm meeting with the Championship leaders. The move would give Tonda Eckert's side a more settled look after two signings lifted the mood following Tuesday's heavy cup defeat to West Ham.
The timing matters because Southampton are trying to turn that lift into back-to-back league victories. Eckert's team had beaten Stoke City 3-1 last time out in the second tier, and this fixture offered a sharper test of whether the new energy around the club could carry into a match against the division's top side.
Daniel Peretz was expected to start in goal, with Aaron Ramsdale still at Southampton but not expected to be involved. George Long was on the bench. James Bree and Ryan Manning were pencilled in as the full-backs, while Jack Stephens was due on the right side of the centre-back pairing alongside Schlotterbeck in a predicted 4-2-3-1.
That shape pointed to a side built for control rather than improvisation, but there were limits to how far Southampton could go with the changes. Caspar Jander was still unavailable through injury, Mads Roerslev was not expected to make the squad, and Welington was only expected to make it into the matchday group. The club's new lift was real enough, yet the bench and the injury list still framed the choices Eckert could make.
Flynn Downes was expected to start and could be joined by Ward-Prowse in midfield, with Finn Azaz in the number 10 role. Tom Fellows was expected to get the nod ahead of Kuryu Matsuki, and Leo Scienza and Cyle Larin were set to lead the line. Millwall arrived as Championship leaders with two clean-sheet wins behind them, so Southampton's selection looked less like a flourish than a direct answer to a team that had made a habit of shutting opponents out.
What Southampton could not yet claim was a fully convincing league performance, and that is why the predicted return of Ward-Prowse and the expected introduction of Schlotterbeck mattered beyond one afternoon. If Eckert gets the balance right, this becomes the kind of match that shows whether the two signings changed more than the mood.
