B Team Preview: Middlesbrough vs Saints

Middlesbrough vs Saints

Premier League 2

Rockcliffe Park

Friday 27th January, 1pm GMT

Saints return to league action after Monday's trip to Derby County was postponed.

Last time out, in a busy week where many B team regulars were in action in the Under 18s' FA Youth Cup win, Dave Horseman's side narrowly fell to their first defeat in nine games.

Having already safely secured progression in the Premier League Cup, Everton were the visitors to Staplewood and came away with a 3-2 win in the final game of Group F.

Horseman's side now resume their focus on league matters after reaching the top of the table with a dominant 4-1 win over Newcastle two weeks ago.

At the halfway stage of the season, Middlesbrough sit comfortably in mid-table with 17 points from their first 11 games.

In their return to league action, Boro played out a 12-goal thriller against local rivals Sunderland as they emerged with a 7-5 win away from home.

The victory made it back-to-back wins in 2023, as they rounded off their Premier League Cup group with a 1-0 win over West Brom at the start of the month.

A strong Southampton team swept aside Middlesbrough 8-1 earlier this season at Staplewood, as several first team players gained extra minutes.

Sékou Mara scored four goals whilst Theo Walcott grabbed a hattrick as Lewis Payne joined them on the scoresheet.

Speaking after the Everton fixture, Horseman said:

“We were very fortunate that we'd already won the group so we didn’t have to win [against Everton], but we still got loads out of it and needed to get some minutes into the players that haven’t featured as much this season.

“Everybody bar Olly [Lancashire], who took a bit of a knock to the face, came out of it unscathed which is a real positive to take.

“The defeat hurts but we have to give opportunities to everybody as that’s what we’re here to do, but we’ll also look to get back to winning ways against Derby with our full group back together.”