Saints need home comfort as Reading come calling
Southampton have won just once in five and Reading arrive desperate for points, so Saturday's derby is no place to be tidy.
Can Southampton find a home performance when they need one most? They sit ninth on 16 points, eight places above Reading, but four draws in five tells you they keep leaving the door open. Marcos Delfino has been their bright spark without a goal; Pablo Gaona will find Solomon Abah a real handful in the air, and Cole Pierrepont, tired legs and all, has to test Malick Diop.
Reading are sixteenth and hurting, three and a half points short of what their chances deserved. Antônio Minatel has four goals in his last five and Gerardo Ibáñez keeps carving clear-cut chances, so Saints must beware. The last three meetings have all gone the visitors' way at St Mary's, and with Franco Cruz, Alejandro Santamaría and Aaron Lynch missing, Reading's squad is stretched. You sense both sides need this one badly.