Preview: Saints vs Villarreal
Southampton bring their pre-season preparations to a close as they host Villarreal at St Mary’s on Saturday.
Saints vs Villarreal
Pre-season friendly
St Mary’s Stadium
Saturday 30 July, 3pm BST
After an impressive second-half display against AS Monaco in midweek, which saw Saints claim their first victory of pre-season, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side will be looking to impress when Spanish opposition arrive in SO14 on Saturday.
Aleksandr Golovin’s goal, assisted by former Saint Takumi Minamino, saw Monaco have the lead heading into the break as Saints returned to St Mary’s.
A goal from Adam Armstrong drew Saints level early on in the second half, with Hasenhüttl’s tactical second-half changes making an undeniable impact when entering the field of play.
Stuart Armstrong scored a sublime goal to give Saints the advantage just three minutes after coming on, with captain James Ward-Prowse wrapping things up to make it 3-1 on a successful night at St Mary’s.
It’s been a largely positive pre-season for the visitors, who have claimed victory in their last three outings against PSV, Dortmund and Reims.
Due to this game taking place on the opening day of the EFL season, the UK blackout restrictions mean we are unable to broadcast the game live to fans. However, we will still have extensive coverage across our social media channels and highlights soon after the game.
