Preview - Southampton

St Mary's

When and where

Southampton v West Ham United
Premier League
Saturday 4 February 2017, 3pm GMT
St Mary’s Stadium

What’s the story?

West Ham United have made a good habit of bouncing back from setbacks in recent months and they will be looking to revisit the trend when they head to Southampton on Saturday.

Slaven Bilic’s men followed 5-1 and 5-0 defeats against Arsenal and Manchester City respectively by drawing 2-2 at Liverpool and putting Crystal Palace to the sword by an emphatic 3-0 scoreline.

Now they will need to summon that spirit again after suffering a 4-0 reverse at the hands of the Citizens at London Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Hammers have still won five of their last eight league starts and currently sit eleventh in the Premier League table, one place and one point ahead of Saturday’s opponents.

The Saints also came up short in their midweek fixture, going down 2-1 at Swansea City. Shane Long brought Claude Puel’s side level following Alfie Mawson’s first half opener, but Gylfi Sigurdsson won it for the Swans with 20 minutes remaining.

Southampton made it through to the EFL Cup final with a semi-final victory over Liverpool last month and will be hoping to use that route in order to qualify for European football for a third consecutive season.

Team news

Robert Snodgrass will hope for his first start in Hammers colours after making his debut from the bench in Wednesday’s defeat to Manchester City.

Cheikhou Kouayte is back from international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, but Andre Ayew was still involved on Thursday in Ghana’s semi-final defeat to Cameroon so is unavailable.

Sam Byram is a doubt after injuring his hamstring in midweek.

For Southampton, Virgil van Dijk is out for three months with an ankle problem, but Jay Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse are back. New signing Manolo Gabbiadini could feature.

Player head-to-head

Maya Yoshida v Winston Reid head-to-head

Any links between the two?

West Ham’s January arrival Jose Fonte faces a swift return to St Mary’s, having left the South Coast club to link up with Slaven Bilic’s squad.

Fonte spent seven years with the Saints, playing 260 league games and winning two promotions.

Meanwhile, Michail Antonio also played for Southampton earlier in his career, turning out for the club on 39 occasions during a loan spell in the 2009/10 campaign.

How do I get to the game?

Click here for information on visiting St Mary's Stadium.

For the latest news on the trains, click here. Up-to-the-minute updates on the roads can be found here.

How can I watch the game?

Saturday’s match is not being broadcast live in the UK. However, you can follow all the action as it happens live on whufc.com, with live audio commentary, social media updates, in-running stats, photos and more. Join in the conversation on social using #SOUWHU