Southampton play host to Coventry City on Tuesday evening and they must return to winning ways to gather momentum heading into the play-offs.
After the disappointing goalless draw at Blackburn Rovers, Russell Martin expects a reaction from his players.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s clash, Martin delivered a pretty stern warning to the visitors: “It’s going to be a tough game coming to St Mary’s and playing against us right now. Because we are feeling hurt and frustrated and wounded. We need to react in the right way.”
Southampton certainly need to right the wrongs of Saturday and they’ll be eager to make a real statement against Coventry, who they could meet in the play-offs.
Though, they’ll in order to do that, they’ll need to keep one ‘exciting’ danger man quiet.
Russell Martin must keep ‘exciting’ Coventry City dangerman quiet
Southampton’s attacking prowess has got them over the line on multiple occasions this season, it’s defensively where they’ve come up stuck.
They’ve shipped 51 goals in 39 games, which just simply isn’t good enough for a side with aspirations of automatic promotion.
The back four will need to be laser-focused tonight, as they come up against Coventry’s Haji Wright, who is full of confidence.
Their £7.7m record signing has netted in each of his last three league away games and could become the first Sky Blues player to net in four since Conor Chaplin in 2019.
Wright, a jet-heeled winger, has netted a commendable 17 goals in all competitions this season and is Coventry’s second top scorer behind Ellis Simms with 18.
So, quite clearly, he’s a player Martin must look to keep quiet.
How Russell Martin can stop Haji Wright
Wright has operated on the left and right-wing this term and even as a centre-forward, so Saints must be prepared for all of those potential outcomes.
Wherever he lines up, Martin must ensure there is sufficient cove to deal with his pace, so if he does start out on the left, Kyle Walker-Peters will need to be wary of the transition.
Doubling up on him could be an option, too, though that should be a last resort, as Saints have to focus on their own game too.
They need to get on the front foot from the first whistle and lay down a marker early on to give Coventry something to think about if they flood forward.