Match Pack: Saints vs Preston

It’s a return to St Mary’s on Saturday as Saints host Preston in the Championship. Get game ready with our Match Pack…

THE MATCH

Southampton vs Preston
Sky Bet Championship
St Mary’s Stadium
Saturday 1st November, 3pm GMT

THE OFFICIALS

Referee: Matthew Donohue
Assistants: Jacob Graham, Carl Fitch-Jackson
Fourth official: Gavin Ward

THE KITS

As always at St Mary’s, Saints will be in their traditional red and white stripes, with black shorts and white socks. Visitors Preston will swap to their blue and fluorescent yellow away kit for the trip south.

TICKETS

There are still a limited amount of tickets available for fans to purchase and prices start from £20 for Adults and £10 for Under-18s, with a discount available for Saints Members.

Saints vs Preston tickets

LIVE COVERAGE

For those unable to make it to St Mary’s, Saints Play match passes are available to supporters outside of the UK.

Buy a match pass for £10

THE PROGRAMME

The matchday programme is available to order online, as well as from the various sellers around St Mary’s.

Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy tackles our new A-Z of Football feature, while you can also find Will Still’s programme notes, the latest from our Women’s team after back-to-back south coast derby victories, a healthy dose of nostalgia from our club historians and everything you need to know about our visitors.

Programme store

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

After back-to-back defeats on the road, Will Still’s side return to SO14 in need of a win to restore some confidence.

Currently sat in 20th, victory over play-off hopefuls Preston could prove to be the catalyst for a resurgence up the table.

The Lilywhites head to the south coast after a comeback win over Sheffield United at Deepdale last Friday, but have only picked up maximum points on their travels once so far this season.

TEAM NEWS

Will Still has several injury woes to contend with going into the weekend, with Shea Charles ruled out for six to seven weeks with a hamstring injury picked up at Blackburn.

The midfielder joins Ross Stewart as a longer-term absentee, with Elias Jelert also still unavailable.

Adding to the list, Cameron Archer has missed training all week with a knock suffered at Ewood Park, while Flynn Downes picked up a knee injury in training to throw his involvement into doubt.

Sam Edozie also rolled his ankle in training to take a seat on the sidelines for several weeks with Welington serving the first of a three-match suspension after his red card last weekend.

THE MANAGERS

Will Still: “We’ve got to fight back. It’s time the whole club fought back. This scenario isn’t new. As a club we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, stand up and fight back. Show what this club is about and not moan about everything that can possibly be moaned about.

We’re in the building every day, on the training pitch every day. We need to manage games better but also turn a corner and start fighting back. But that goes all the way through the club. We have full control of what we can do but we’re not taking full ownership of that. We need everyone for that.”

Paul Heckingbottom: “The players should be proud of where they are and more the performance levels. What we want to try and do, and there’s no guarantees we can do it, is just try and turn more of those performances into wins and just keep pushing and pushing.

“But each game is a different test and this one away at a team that’s just come out of the Premier League is a big test and a big journey for us, but let’s rise to that challenge.”

ONES TO WATCH

Leo Scienza: The summer signing scored his first goal for the club at Blackburn last Saturday, rounding off a string of standout performances with a milestone moment.

Saints’ main attacking outlet in recent weeks, and Player of the Match last time out at St Mary’s against Swansea, the hosts will look to Scienza to produce some magic again.

Thierry Small: The former Saint made the switch from Charlton to Preston in the summer after playing a key role in promotion to the Championship for the Addicks.

Netting against his former club at the start of October, the lively wing-back will want to do the same on his first return to St Mary’s.

TOP PERFORMERS

Saints

Goals:

Armstrong 4
Archer, Manning, Stewart 2
Seven players 1

Assists:

Fraser 2
Nine players 1

Preston

Goals:

Osmajic, Dobbin 3
Smith, Small, Devine, Jebbison 2
Storey, Lindsay 1

Assists:

Whiteman 3
Storey, Devine, Dobbin, Jebbison 2
Five players 1

FORM GUIDE

Saints

Blackburn (a) SBC: L 1-2 (Scienza)
Bristol City (a) SBC: L 1-3 (Armstrong)
Swansea (h) SBC: D 0-0
Derby (a) SBC: D 1-1 (Armstrong)
Sheff Utd (a) SBC: W 2-1 (Stewart 2)

Preston

Sheff Utd (h) SBC: W 3-2 (Dobbin, Tanganga OG, Jebbison)
Birmingham (h) SBC: L 0-1
West Brom (a) SBC: L 1-2 (Smith)
Charlton (h) SBC: W 2-0 (Small, Jebbison)
Hull (a) SBC: D 2-2 (Small, Smith)

HEAD TO HEAD

Played: 44
Saints wins: 16
Draws: 14
Preston wins: 14

LAST FIVE MEETINGS

Apr 2024: Saints 3-0 Preston Championship (Adams 2, S Armstrong)
Oct 2023: Preston 2-2 Saints Championship (Walker-Peters, Evans OG)
Sep 2011: Saints 2-1 Preston League Cup (Hooiveld, Lallana)
Feb 2009: Saints 3-1 Preston Championship (Saganowski 2, Surman)
Nov 2008: Preston 2-3 Saints Championship (Pearce, Surman, McGoldrick)