FA Cup: Southampton v Yeovil match preview

A look ahead to this weekend’s FA Cup fourth round tie at St Mary’s Stadium

Southampton striker Rickie Lambert (Getty Images)

It is astonishing to think that just three years ago Southampton were keeping Yeovil company in the third tier of English football. Since then, the Saints have been on a meteoric rise to the Premier League receiving praise for their footballing philosophy and excellent academy system. But the Saints are currently in somewhat of a crisis with the man behind their rise in the leagues, Nicola Cortese, resigning last week.

His resignation led many to speculate over the potential of an exodus of players as well as manager Mauricio Pochettino from the club but Gareth Rogers has been installed as temporary successor to Cortese and Pochettino has pledged his allegiance to the south coast side.

Southampton will be without record-signing Dani Osvaldo who has been suspended for two weeks by the club following his part in a training ground incident involving Jose Fonte whilst Gaston Ramirez and Dejan Lovren have both been ruled out for six to eight weeks with ankle ligament damage.

Yeovil are boosted by the confirmation that striker Ishamel Miller is returning to the club on loan until the end of the season but the club have cut-short Zoumana Bakayogo’s loan after the defender ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament.

KICK-OFF: Saturday, 3pm

PAST THREE MEETINGS:

Southampton 3 (Barnard 2, Oxlade-Chamberlain) Yeovil 0, League One, March 2011
Yeovil 1 (Virgo) Southampton 1 (Do Prado), League One, September 2010
Yeovil 0 Southampton 1 (Barnard), League One, April 2010

STATS:

Yeovil have never beaten Southampton in their four previous meetings, conceding 14 goals in the process

Southampton have only two clean sheets in their last ten matches in all competitions

Since making the final in 2003, Southampton have only managed to reach the quarter-final stage once

ODDS:

Southampton to win: 1.25

Yeovil to win: 11

Draw: 6

TV: Highlights on ITV at 10.45pm