Both Southampton and Leeds United are preparing for the play-off final on Sunday.
The winner of the Wembley showpiece knows they will be playing in the Premier League, whilst the loser will have to settle for another season in the Championship.
Southampton manager Russell Martin has the task of devising a plan to beat Leeds for the third time this season, with the psychological impact of the Saints’ 2-1 final day win over the same opponents unclear.
Martin threw a curveball that day, sending his side out in a 3-5-2 formation rather than the 4-3-3 he had used almost exclusively all season.
It worked well as Southampton triumphed at Elland Road, but if Southampton are to be successful in the final then they are likely best served exploiting one key weakness in Daniel Farke’s Leeds.
Southampton must target Junior Firpo in play-off final
That change of shape against Leeds just a couple of weeks ago meant that Southampton looked more defensively solid, but also allowed them to utilise the attacking strengths of Kyle Walker-Peters.
The 27-year-old has been one of Southampton’s best players this season and they will unquestionably lose him if they fail to get promoted on Sunday.
However, using both Walker-Peters and David Brooks on the right to target Leeds’ Junior Firpo could be the key to winning the match.
Leeds signed Firpo for £13 million from Barcelona in 2021 but the full-back has not lived up to expectation and is weak defensively.
Southampton got joy up against the left-back for their second goal on the final day as Firpo tried to let a long diagonal ball run out of play before Walker-Peters got to it, beat the defender with ease and squared for Will Smallbone to score.
Brooks was impressive as Southampton returned to a 4-3-3 to to beat West Brom 3-1 in the semi-final second leg and the duo of Brooks and Walker-Peters could have a field day down the right on a big Wembley pitch.
When you add the fact that Leeds’ star attacker Crysencio Summerville will likely play on the left wing, there should be space to exploit as, for all his attacking qualities, Summerville will rarely get back to help Firpo.
Firpo a ‘liability’ at Leeds
Firpo has been in England for three seasons now, but has done little to improve defensively in that time.
It seems somewhat remarkable that the left-back was ever deemed good enough to play for a side with the calibre of Barcelona, but the Dominican Republic international made 41 appearances for the Catalan club according to Transfermarkt.
Speaking at the end of Firpo’s first season at Leeds, Daily Mirror reporter David Anderson was scathing in his assessment of the £60k-a-week man as he said: “All he seems to do is get booked all the time. I think he’s up to 10 yellow cards or something.
You don’t expect that from a player coming from Barcelona; you expect a bit of class, a bit of maturity, a bit of leadership, and he’s provided none of that, really.
“I think he’s been a big let-down. You’re looking around that changing room thinking, ‘Who’s going to step up and do it for us now?’ And you’d be looking at someone like him, but he’s just not.
In fact, if anything, he’s been more of a liability for Leeds.”
It seems little has changed since then and Firpo could be the weak link Martin tries to exploit to earn a Premier League return.