Southampton welcome Shrewsbury Town to St Mary’s Stadium in their rearranged Third Round clash of 2020-21 FA Cup.
The winner of this tie will advance to the Fourth Round and host Arsenal on Saturday 23 January at 12:15pm (GMT).
Team News
Will Smallbone is ruled out for Southampton after suffering a knee injury during Saturday’s away defeat at Leicester.
Danny Ings is in contention to feature if he proves his fitness after missing Saturday’s match through fitness concerns, having spent ten days in self-isolation.
Jannik Vestergaard (knee), Moussa Djenepo, Nathan Tella (both muscle), Nathan Redmond (groin), Mohamed Salisu (muscle), Oriol Romeu (calf) and Michael Obafemi (undisclosed)
Shrewsbury meanwhile are without several players following a Coronavirus outbreak amongst the Shrews, which forced them to cancel games since 29 December 2020.
Stat Attack
- Southampton are yet to lose to Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup (W2), winning both meetings by a total aggregate of 6-1.
- Shrewsbury have lost all three trips to Southampton across all cup competitions without scoring, whilst conceding four goals.
- Saints are unbeaten in their last nine FA Cup home matches against lower league opposition (W7, D2)
Prediction
After a disappointing performance at Leicester on Saturday in which they unsuccessfully played a counter-attacking style, Southampton definitely will be keen to hit back here with a strong game even though Ralph Hasenhuttl will rotate the squad.
Shrewsbury meanwhile haven’t played in three weeks which I can’t see benefiting them here and especially with unclear team news, I seriously can’t see them offering much threat here regardless of who they field.
If I am being honest, Shrewsbury certainly need the mother of all performances coupled with a shocking Southampton performance because this feels very much like a case of not whether the hosts will win but more a question of how many goals will they produce.
Hasenhuttl opting for a rotated lineup therefore will limit their potential in terms of goals compared to if he fielded a full team, although this will still be a comfortable result.
Prediction: Southampton 3-0 Shrewsbury Town
Result: Southampton 2-0 Shrewsbury Town
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