Southampton vs Sheffield Wednesday: Championship Preview, Gameweek 27, 2024
Southampton celebrating their goals against Plymouth. (GettyImage, Isabelle Field)

Sheffield Wednesday - the team traveling down to the South Coast - won't make it easy for Saints, who are currently flying high in the Championship. Since Danny Rohl was appointed they have managed to win 19 points in 15 games and are unbeaten in their last two. 

Danny Rohl used to be a Saints man, who was quite highly spoken of for his time while at Saints with Ralph Hasenhuttl, they were appointed at the start of December 2018 but Rohl left before the new Premier League campaign kicked off and jetted to Bayern Munich. 

Southampton's last league game did not quite go to plan with them conceding late on to draw away to Norwich on New Year's Day and they only brought one point back down to the South Coast when they deserved all three. 

Sheffield Wednesday beat Hull 3-1 at home and are now three points away from getting out of the relegation zone. 

In the team's last outings in the FA Cup they both won 4-0 against their rivals, Sheffield Wednesday beat League rivals Cardiff and Saints beat League Two side Walsall 4-0. 

Ryan Fraser was on top form for 90 minutes against Walsall, he scored twice and assisted once with a MOTM performance and deserves that start this weekend, he has been a great addition to the Saints' season and is becoming a fan favourite. 

Southampton striker and vice-captain Adam Armstrong has been a good watch this season. 

In the Premier League, he only scored four goals in 53 appearances but has taken the Championship by storm scoring 13 goals in 26 matches and registering nine assists. 

Not only has he become the goal scorer Saints needed to shoot themselves up he has become a vital team player and playmaker. 

Armstrong is the second-highest goalscorer in the league and has been nominated for Championship Player of the Month. 

Barry Bannan, Sheffield Wednesday captain, is an experienced player who knows what to do in tough games like these. 

Bannan is a player who contributes with and without the ball and is a machine on the pitch throughout the 90 minutes, although he isn't a goal scorer he brings other attributes to the pitch. 

A leader on and off the field who can help keep morale high and is a definite starter. 

  • Team News, Southampton:

Recent starter Joe Aribo won't be available for Saints' next matches due to him going to AFCON with Nigeria. Both wingers Kameldeen Sulemana and Sam Edozie are still sidelined with injuries and January signing Ross Stewart won't be seen again this season with another injury. 

Downes is coming back to full fitness and should soon be playing regular minutes after having 60 minutes here and there due to the illness he has been having due to E-coli and Saints manager Russell Martin managing his fitness well. 

George Byers and Bambo Diaby will both miss the trip down to the South Coast after getting straight reds in recent games, it will be Diaby's last game suspended. 

  • Predicted Lineups, Southampton:

Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Hardwood-Bellis, Manning; Downes, Smallbone, S Armstrong; Alcaraz, Fraser; A. Armstrong (C). 

  • Predicted Lineups, Sheffield Wednesday: 

Dawson; Valentin; Ihiekwe, Bernard, Johnson; M.Diaby, Bannan (C); Musaba, Windass, Gassama; Cadamarteri

The game takes place at St Mary's stadium, Saturday 13th January, 3pm kick-off.