Wycombe aim for three in a row against Saints

Wycombe Wanderers travel to Southampton on Tuesday evening for their 19th league game of the season.


The Saints are currently 21st in the table with 16 points on the board after 18 league games.

Without the ten-point deduction imposed on them at the start of the season, they would be ten places higher in 11th with 26 points.

The ten-point penalty seemed to weigh heavily on the Saints at the start of the season and it wasn't until their eighth league game in mid-September that they finally recorded their first win.

At the beginning of October they won for the second time to take their points tally into positive territory.

Four more wins and a draw in October took the Saints off the bottom of the table and saw them progress to the quarter final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

Further success followed in November with Southampton progressing to the semi final of the JPT and the third round of the FA Cup as well as collecting 4 more points in the League.

Dauntingly for the Chairboys, the Saints have won 9 and drawn 2 of their last 12 games with only a solitary defeat at home to Brighton blotting their copybook.

One of the division's top scorers with 44 goals in all competitions, Southampton's Achilles heel would seem to be their defence which has conceded 33 goals along the way.

A Premiership side as recently as 2005, Southampton are currently managed by Alan Pardew and play their home games at the 32,689 capacity St Mary's Stadium, which opened in 2001 and hosted a full international match between England and Macedonia the following year.

The Saints' average home crowd this season is 20,012.



The Chairboys are currently 22nd in the table with 14 points from their opening 18 league games.

Two battling wins in a row have put a completely different complexion on Wycombe's season, boosting confidence and lifting them from the bottom of the table, a position they found themselves in after Gary Waddock's first game in charge, a 1-1 draw with Colchester United in mid-October.

In truth they would have been at the bottom even earlier, after losing at home to Tranmere Rovers in September, if it wasn't for the ten-point deduction imposed on Southampton before the start of the season.

Their recent victories over Millwall and Brentford also saw Wycombe keep their first two clean-sheets of the season, a particularly welcome development after they had conceded 15 goals in their previous 4 games.

The Chairboys however, enter the busy December period with several injury concerns and precious little cover at the back. Their only fit central defenders are the same pair that recently conceded 6 goals in the rout at Huddersfield Town and their two full-backs appear to have no experienced deputies in the squad.

Bearing that in mind, some were surprised that Wycombe didn't strengthen their defence ahead of the loan-transfer deadline last Thursday, with manager Gary Waddock offering the following explanation: "One or two things haven`t happened like we hoped they might. But in saying that the last couple of results have changed my thinking."

With 44 goal Southampton currently one of the division's top goalscorers and likely to offer far more going forward than either Millwall or Brentford did, the Wycombe rearguard which collapsed against Huddersfield could well be in for another testing time on Tuesday evening.

The Chairboys are hopeful that on-loan midfielder Scott Davies will recover from a trapped nerve in time to face the Saints, but Matt Bloomfield and Chris Westwood are doubtful and Leon Johnson will definitely miss out.

No one expected Wycombe to win at Millwall last week and if the Chairboys can pull off another shock on Tuesday, and other results go their way, they could climb out of the relegation zone altogether which would be a remarkable achievement given how gloomy their prospects looked just a few weeks ago.


Southampton's last five games (All Competitions)

JPT: Charlton (H)............Won 2-1
LG1: Brighton (H)............Lost 3-1
LG1: Norwich (H)...........Drew 2-2
LG1: Hartlepool (A).........Won 3-1
FAC: Northampton (A)....Won 3-2


Wycombe's last five games (All Competitions)

FAC: Brighton (H)..........Drew 4-4
LG1: Huddersfield (A)......Lost 6-0
FAC: Brighton (A) ...........Lost 2-0
LG1: Millwall (A)..............Won 2-0
LG1: Brentford (H)..........Won 1-0


Southampton Goal Stats (All Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........44
Goals Conceded (Total).....33

Goals Scored (Home)........23
Goals Conceded (Home)....17

Clean Sheets....3


Wycombe Goals Stats (All Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........24
Goals Conceded (Total).....43

Goals Scored (Away)........11
Goals Conceded (Away)....23

Clean Sheets....2


Southampton's Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)
Richard Lambert...........13
Adam Lallana...............12
David Connolly..............5
Ndiaye Papa Waigo........5
Dean Hammond.............3

Five other Southampton players have each scored 1 goal.


Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Jon-Paul Pittman.........6
Matt Harrold...............6
Scott Davies...............3
Chris Zebroski............2

Seven other Wycombe players have each scored 1 goal.


Southampton Shooting (Top-3)

Richard Lambert.....37 on-target....30 off-target.....6 against woodwork
Adam Lallana.........35 on-target....20 off-target.....2 against woodwork
David Connolly.......11 on-target....11 off-target.....0 against woodwork

Wycombe Shooting (Top-3)

Jon-Paul Pittman.....14 on-target....10 off-target....0 against woodwork
Scott Davies...........10 on-target....13 off-target....3 against woodwork
Stuart Green...........11 on-target....10 off-target....0 against woodwork

Shooting (Club)
Southampton..153 on target...101 off target...10 against woodwork
Wycombe........97 on target.....80 off target....5 against woodwork


League Form Guide

All Games
Southampton.Pld: 18...W: 6...D: 8...L: 4....Pts: 26...Pts per game: 1.44
Wycombe......Pld: 18...W: 3...D: 5...L: 10..Pts: 14...Pts per game: 0.78


Against Top Half Opposition
Southampton...Pld: 10....Pts: 13....Pts per game: 1.30
Wycombe........Pld: 12....Pts: 10....Pts per game: 0.83


Against Bottom Half Opposition
Southampton....Pld: 8....Pts: 13...Pts per game: 1.62
Wycombe.........Pld: 6.....Pts: 4....Pts per game: 0.66


Last Five league Games
Southampton:....WDLDW - 8 points
Wycombe:..........DLLWW - 7 points


Last Five League Games (Home)
Southampton:.....LWWLD - 7 points


Last Five League Games (Away)
Wycombe:..........DLDLW - 5 points


Previous Meetings

The two clubs have never met before.


The Man In The Middle

Tuesday's referee is Dean Whitestone from Northamptonshire who joined The National List of referees in 2005. His last Wycombe game was the televised 0-0 draw with Rotherham at Adams Park in February of this year.


Prediction

Home Win

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