U18 Preview: Saints vs West Ham
Southampton’s youngsters return to Under-18s Premier League action this weekend with the visit of West Ham United to Staplewood Campus.
Saints vs West Ham United
Under-18s Premier League
Staplewood Campus
Saturday 6th March, 11am GMT
After a week off last weekend, Saints will be looking to bounce back from the narrow defeat at Leicester when they return to Staplewood Campus on Saturday.
With many Under-18s regulars joining Dave Horseman’s B team set-up, it was an unusually youthful line-up which took to the field at the Foxes at the end of February.
Regulars Matt Hall, Lewis Payne and Diamond Edwards were joined by the likes of Jem Hewlett, Joshua Lett and Joshua Squires – all making the step up into the under-18s side.
Leicester eventually won the match 1-0, with Oli Ewing getting the only goal of the game on 22 minutes.
A win for Saints on Saturday would put them above Leicester if they fail to win, and just two points and a game in hand behind Saturday’s opponents West Ham.
The Hammers also suffered defeat last-time-out, losing 2-0 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion last week.
Markus Ifill grabbed a double for the visitors, who strengthened their push on the top two spots.
A win for West Ham would put them above 10th placed Reading if results go their way.
Saturday’s fixture is the first time these two sides have met this season, meaning you have to go back to December 2019 for their last meeting.
Saints hosted West Ham at the start of the month, with the visitors coming away the much happier party.
Goals from Kamari Simon-Swyer, Kai Corbett and a Ademipo Odubeko hat-trick ensured of a 5-0 victory for the Hammers,
It turned out to be the only meeting between the two sides of the 2019/20 season with the league being curtailed in March.
