Southampton welcome Stoke City to St Mary’s on Saturday in their penultimate game of the regular Championship season.
After a humbling 5-0 defeat at the hands of Leicester City on Tuesday night, the Saints are condemned to a play-off place.
Russell Martin, the manager, was deeply dissatisfied with both the outcome and the performance at the King Power. Martin now has to prepare his team for the remaining two games of the season after a similarly agonizing loss against Cardiff City the previous game.
The best preparation for the play-offs would be to win both their final fixtures against Stoke City and Leeds United.
Southampton beat Saturday’s visitors 1-0 in the reverse fixture, with a sumptuous Stuart Armstrong free-kick sealing all three points.
The Saints will have to make do without their goalscorer that day, though, with Armstrong set to miss the rest of the season through injury.