Southampton FC welcomes West Ham United FC at the St Mary’s Stadium on the fifth round of the FA Cup on Wednesday as both the teams will be targeting the spot for the quarter-finals.
Both the sides face each other after winning their last match in the English Premier League. The Saints won against Norwich City for two goals, while David Moyes’s side overcame Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0.
Both teams will be looking to end their drought in the FA Cup. The Hammers lifted this cup in 1980, and they have only reached the last eight just one time in the previous ten years. Southampton reached last season’s semi-finals. But they won this trophy last in 1976.
West Ham are trying to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since the 2015-16 season, but failing to keep a clean sheet in any of their last seven away matches could be a headache for the team at the St Mary’s Stadium.
Southampton will be facing the Hammers with an extra boost as they have beat them in the previous meeting. On the 2021 Boxing Day, Southampton edged a thrilling contest with West Ham 3-2 at the London Stadium to end an eight-game winless run against the Hammers.
Team News:
Southampton FC: Lyanco, Nathan Tella and Alex McCarthy are all absent for the hosts. The Saints did not pick up any fresh concerns in Friday’s win over Norwich. There is a tight competition between Romain Perraud and Adam Armstrong to be in the starting XI. There are high chances for Armstrong to start the game against the Saints.
West Ham United FC: David Moyes has no fresh injury concerns to deal with, having lost Vladimir Coufal to groin surgery last week. Arthur Masuaku and Angelo Ogbonna will undoubtedly miss out for the Hammers, and Ryan Fredericks’s groin strain will likely keep him out of the fifth-round clash as well. Said Benrahma will be hoping to be back in the starting XI. He is not having a great time in the recent matches. With Antonio, he needs to step up to beat the opponent in a tough away game.
Head to head (h2h) history and results:
Southampton wins: 51
Draws: 48
West Ham wins: 80
Possible line-ups:
Southampton possible starting line-up:
Forster; Livramento, Bednarek, Salisu, Walker-Peters; S. Armstrong, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Elyounoussi; Broja, Adams
West Ham United possible starting line-up:
Areola; Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma; Antonio
Match Details:
Kick-off: Wednesday 2 March, 19:30 (GMT)
Venue: St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton
Referee: Andre Marriner
VAR: Simon Hooper