Preview

Ralph should be looking to rotate players after sev were away with their respective nations during the international break.

Of course, Lavia and Livramento are still injured, with Hasenhüttl confirming Lavia could take ‘a few more weeks’ (whatever that means), before he returns to first team action.

Ralph said in the press conference, “We had fewer players here, with some of the young players going to play international games."

“Sam (Edozie) and Juan (Larios) were gone, but Ainsley (Maitland-Niles), Joe (Aribo) and Duje (Ćaleta-Car) were here and we were able to work with them and this was good.”

Sounds as though Maitland Niles, Aribo and Ćaleta-Car will be starting then.

Team News

With some of the Internationals having long journeys after their matches, there were always going to be several changes from the away game against Aston Villa, in what has since become known as "The Worst Premier League Match Ever".

Bazunu, Walker-Peters and Bella-Kotchap kept their places, but Ćaleta-Car came in for his first start in place of Salisu. The big surprise for me was that López was preferred at left back to Perraud. I could only think the Frenchman was still carrying an injury.

In our problem area of midfield, Ward-Prowse was joined by Maitland Niles, as predicted. The wide players being Stuart Armstrong and Joe Aribo, with Adams and Mara as the nominal front pairing.

IBO Reporter: channonite

Teams

Match Stats