Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Southampton will be without striker Graziano Pelle (knee) as they welcome Crystal Palace to St Mary’s in the FA Cup.
Cedric Soares and Juanmi are both fit again, but Victor Wanyama misses out as he starts a two-match ban.
Bakary Sako returns to the Palace squad having been out of action since the home defeat by Sunderland in November.
Yohan Cabaye is also back in contention after a one-game suspension.
Editor’s Note: Southampton are sliding down the Premier League table at the moment so Ronald Koeman will welcomed the distraction of the F.A. Cup as they play hosts to Crystal Palace and a previous Manager in the way of Alan Pardew.
Southampton now find themselves in 13th place and over the festive period showed the highs and the lows of their season. A fantastic 4-0 win over Arsenal on Boxing Day and then two defeats in a row on the road at West Ham and Norwich
They’ll be without Graziano Pelle through injury and Victor Wanyama through suspension, his red card was arguably the turning point in last week’s defeat at Carrow Road with Norwich’s winner coming once The Saints were reduced to 10 men.
As for Crystal Palace they were comfortably beaten last weekend at home to Chelsea but they did have a lot of key men missing, even so it was a disappointing afternoon for Alan Pardew as the performance didn’t match their current league position.
They look set to welcome back Yohan Cabaye after he missed the Chelsea match through suspension and it’s fair to say he was very much missed on Sunday. Cabaybe has been arguably Palace’s best player this season and without him controlling Midfield last week The Eagles looked a lesser side.
Today will be an interesting encounter as both clubs will look to progress into the 4th Round, Ronald Koeman needs a performance out of his players as he seems to be getting more and more animated each week while Alan Pardew will be hoping his side bounce back from last weeks defeat. I reckon it will be a draw and a replay at Selhurst Park.
