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Southampton travel the short distance to Brighton on Saturday to take on Graham Potter’s men at the Amex Stadium, where Ralph Hasenhuttl will be hoping to see his side record their first result of the season having lost their first two games.
The Saints have only scored once in those two games, and even that was courtesy of Liverpool keeper Adrian kicking the ball at Danny Ings – the backline has also conceded five times, so there is cause for concern all over the pitch.
Brighton, on the other hand, have already picked up four points with an impressive win over Watford and a 1-1 draw against West Ham last time out.
Let’s take a look at how Hasenhuttl should set his side up for the South Coast derby…
We recently detailed why Jannik Vestergaard is too much of a liability, and how the Dane should be dropped as a result of his performances as well as to move away from the 3-5-2 system.
With that in mind, we think the 6 foot 5 centre-back should definitely be dropped, with Maya Yoshida and Jan Bednarek retaining their places in the team – Yan Valery and Ryan Bertrand should also be moved back into a four-man defence.
In attack, Che Adams and Nathan Redmond have struggled to get involved recently, outlined by the fact that the Saints haven’t scored a goal yet of their own making – we think that they should keep their place despite that, but £15m summer signing Moussa Djenepo should also be handed a first start to help them out up top.
A midfield trio of James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Oriol Romeu provides a nice blend of craft and defensive solidity, which would help keep the side balanced overall in comparison to the disjointed 3-5-2 which was torn apart by Burnley – it is this trio that the former RB Leipzig boss should opt for against Brighton.
It would be a huge shift of impetus from Hasenhuttl, but we think he should certainly take on this approach for a game he should see as a winnable one against the Seagulls.
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