Southampton welcome Stoke City to St Mary’s on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off.
The Saints must use this game to bounce back from consecutive defeats.
Russell Martin knows the 5-0 mauling his side suffered at Leicester City on Tuesday could be very damaging mentally ahead of the play-offs.
Therefore, whilst the race for automatic promotion is over, Southampton must use their last two Championship fixtures as an opportunity to find some form ahead of those huge post-season fixtures.
That starts against Stoke, with the visitors not completely safe from relegation although it would take a number of teams pulling off surprise results for the Potters to slip into the bottom three by the end of the season.
Southampton injury news ahead of Stoke
Martin has seen his squad depleted by injuries in recent games.
Firstly, he lost goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu in the warm-up of the Preston win with an achilles injury that will keep the Irishman out well into next season.
Flynn Downes then fell victim to a knock that saw him withdrawn at half-time in that game.
The on-loan midfielder was subsequently not in the squad against Cardiff and not risked against Leicester with the play-offs in mind.
32-year-old Stuart Armstrong has been one of Southampton’s most consistent performers this season but will not feature again this campaign after being stretchered off against Cardiff.
The Scotland international’s contract expires in the summer so it is a possibility that he has played his last game for the club.
Ryan Manning returned from the knock that saw him miss the previous two halves of football against Leicester, so Martin will have to make a decision on the left-back.
Joe Rothwell limped off after 39 minutes on Tuesday night but the club are yet to provide an update on the Bournemouth loanee’s fitness.
Sekou Mara has now served his three game suspension for an off the ball incident against Watford so is available again, whilst Juan Larios and Ross Stewart remain long-term absentees.
Who will Russell Martin play v Stoke?
Alex McCarthy has been the goalkeeper chosen to deputise for Bazunu and will likely continue as Martin will want him ready for the play-offs.
After conceding five on Tuesday, we could see a defensive shake-up.
Jack Stephens is almost guaranteed to start, with Martin insisting the manner of defeat on Tuesday would not have happened if the 30-year-old had started.
Full-backs James Bree, Kyle Walker-Peters and Manning were all incredibly poor against Leicester so it would not be a surprise to see only one of the three play against Stoke.
Stephens could return to the hybrid left-back role he was playing after the March international break, meaning Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jan Bednarek can stay central.
It would be a surprise to see Martin risk any further damage to Downes so Shea Charles should start in the holding midfield role.
Joe Aribo is one of few Southampton players who did not let themselves down against Leicester and should be joined by Will Smallbone to make up a midfield trio with Charles.
Both Adam Armstrong and David Brooks failed to make any impact at all from the wide positions against the Foxes and both looked as though they could do with a rest.
With that in mind, Ryan Fraser and Samuel Edozie may well be given an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the starting XI for the play-offs.
Che Adams has been in decent form of late and Martin may not want to disrupt his striker’s momentum, but Mara could step in if the Saints boss is minded to rest his main centre-forward.
With that in mind, here is how Southampton could line up against Stoke.
Southampton XI (4-3-3): McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Charles, Aribo, Smallbone; Edozie, Adams, Fraser
