Southampton have long lost their tournament motivation in the current championship. After the first round, it seemed that the saints would be able to compete for at least a place in the Europa League, but in the second half of the season, Ralph Hasenhuettl’s team seriously gave up. A series of nondescript matches significantly threw the saints down the standings. However, the points reserve earned in the first round was enough not to get involved in the struggle for survival. At the moment, Southampton has 43 points and is in 14th place. In the last two rounds, Ralf Hasenhuettl’s charges played quite successfully. With the same score 3:1 the Saints first beat Crystal Palace and then Fulham. Both matches took place in the home arena. In general, Southampton has not lost in four matches in a row at home. Before the above two victories, Soton ended in a draw with Leicester (1:1) and beat Burnley (3:2). In terms of playing at the home stadium, Ralf Hasenhuettl’s charges are eighth in the current championship. In 18 matches at home, the saints won eight victories, lost seven matches and ended three in a draw. Defender Ryan Bertrand, as well as midfielders Oriol Romeu and William Smallbone will miss the match due to injuries. The participation of Jan Bednarek in the match is in question.
St. Louis have not had a consistent record this season and have been on a losing streak quite often. However, in the second half of the season, the team started to play better and only thanks to this got into the playoff zone in fourth position. By the way, the Blues left for a short break before the Cup games in good spirits. We emphasize that they dealt with Florida (6:3), Carolina (5:4) and the same Colorado (3:2). But it is worth saying that now the club is experiencing huge problems with the composition and before the playoffs it was left without its leaders in the person of Tarasenko and Perron and without them it will be almost impossible to claim something serious.
