By Adegboyega Adeleye vanguard
Southampton welcome fellow relegation-threatened side, Nottingham Forest to the Saint Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday evening as both sides know a win today would be key to their quest for survival in the Premier League.
This will be the first meeting between the sides in any competition since the 2011-12 Championship campaign, when Southampton won home and away.
Saints suffered an agonizing 2-1 defeat to Fulham in their last game, while Steve Cooper’s side deservedly earned a 1-1 draw against Chelsea.
The clash could see three Nigerians in action. Southampton midfielder, Joseph Ayodele Aribo is set to face Nottingham Forest strikers- Emmanuel Dennis and Taiwo Awoniyi who won the man of the match award in the last game against Chelsea.
Southampton boss Nathan Jones is under pressure after a rough start to life since he replaced Ralph Hasenhüttl. Jones is the first manager to lose each of his first three Premier League matches since Bruno Lage for Wolves in August 2021 as Southampton rock bottom of the EPL table.
Southampton winger Samuel Edozie will be assessed after a slight injury while Alex McCarthy, Theo Walcott, Juan Larios and Valentino Livramento remain out.
Nottingham Forest have no new injury concerns for the trip to Southampton.
Jesse Lingard has been ruled out for up to a month with the hamstring injury sustained in the defeat at Manchester United on 27 December.