Battling it out for the second time in just five days, Stoke City and Southampton will turn their attention from Sadio Mane’s first ever strike in Southampton colours, to the fourth round of the Capital One Cup.

After Mane’s 33rd minute goal was all that could separate the two sides, Mark Hughes will hope his side’s inconsistent form will offer a chance to bounce back and secure revenge.

The hosts, who currently sit in 11th place in the Premier League, commenced their Capital One Cup campaign at the Stadium of Light, with former Barcelona defender Marc Muniesa scoring twice to beat last season’s finalists.

Meanwhile, the visitors, proudly sitting in 2nd in the Premier League, also enjoyed a successful opening to the Capital One Cup. Making the dreaded trip to the Emirates Stadium, Ronald Koeman’s side left jubilant in victory, with an early costless-kick by Alexis Sanchez cancelled out by Dusan Tadic’s penalty, and Nathaniel Clyne’s superbly-struck winning strike.

With the Capital One Cup often used by teams in the top tier to test youngsters within the first team, Southampton may have to call upon some younger, unknown talents, with promising youths James Ward-Prowse and Sam Gallagher both ruled out through long term injuries. Fellow Englishmen Jay Rodriguez also remains out for a considerable period of time from his knee injury sustained last season.

While Southampton are missing youngsters, Stoke City will be without some of their more experience figures. Nigerian international Peter Odemwinge remains on the sidelines after tearing his ACL back in August, while Glen Whelan is out with a broken leg suffering on international duty recently.

Prior to Southampton edging a 1-0 victory over the Potters on Saturday, the last four meetings had all ended in draws, while Stoke have only won two of their last 20 minutes with the Saints. Koeman’s side also edge the over record, having won 19 of their 39 meetings, drawing 10 and losing 10.

With the former Feyenoord manager looking to limit the number of changes he made from the weekend, Morgan Schneiderlin feels the recent encounter will stand them in good stead, saying:

"It's strange to play them again so quickly, but it's a different competition, it’s a cup game and it’s different.

"I don’t know if they will make some changes, I don’t know if we will too.

"But we know what to expect. We saw it in the second half and we need to expect that for the whole game on Wednesday. It’s never an easy place to go but I’m sure we will be ready."

Southampton have clearly struggled away from home this season, and despite their league success, could struggle to contain the likes of Mame Biram Diouf, Bojan Krkic and Marco Arnautovic on the attacking front. Recent goal-scorer Mane will be a pivotal figure in the Southampton set-up, and they may rely on him to provide a route to the fifth round.