Southampton are in a fantastic form after a sticky start to the season, as they look for their fifth consecutive win when they travel to face Israel Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the Europa League on Thursday night at the Turner Stadium.
After a shaky start to the domestic league season, fans were right to question the new diamond formation system, but now manager Claude Puel is starting to show why he was the perfect appointment during the summer.
Consistency at the heart of the team
A run of four games in all competitions without conceding a single goal in the process has lifted the fans spirits, which all started with the 3-0 Europa League win at home to Sparta Prague.
Puel is making an impact at the helm of St Mary’s as Virgil van Dijk and Jose Fonte are starting to gel well again in the heart of the defence whilst Ryan Bertrand and Cedric perform well at full-back.
As the pieces start to fit into place, they have finally found some consistency which comes to no surprise with the four clean sheets in a row so far.
However, Hapoel Be’er Sheva are not going to allow Saints the easy win as they too made a winning start to the group stages after they beat Inter Milan 2-0.
The Camels are currently third in the Israeli’s version of the Premier League, known as the Ligat Ha’al, after their opening five games.
Hapoel Beer Sheva have a 67-year-history as being a club, and last season was history making as they hope to continue on and to be successful in the Europa League, as they won the league for the first time in 40 years
Their home record is to be respected having recently beat teams like Celtic at the Turner Stadium.
Team news
Southampton’s Charlie Austin, Steven Davis, and Bertrand have decided to stay on the South Coast in order to prepare for their trip to the King Power Stadium at the weekend in their Premier League fixture against Leicester City.
Shane Long, who was left on the bench for the win at West Ham, could have the potential to make an appearance in tomorrow night’s fixture in the absence of Austin, while Jay Rodriguez and Sofiane Boufal both miss out through injury.