Just 5 months ago Saints went to North Wales to take on a Wrexham side who had promotion hopes of their own and emerged from what was seen as a difficult game as 5-1 winners, however a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

Southampton arrive in Wrexham having not been beaten in the Championship since the opening weekend of the season at Watford, now they are building another unbeaten run having gone 6 games since without a League defeat.

However despite winning all four games at St Mary's they have not fired on all cylinders on the road, in the 2 trips away from home have both been 1-1 draws and both saw the team take the lead only to give away an equaliser, both headers that should really have been dealt with.

So Tonda Eckert will be looking to see his men get their first League away win of the season and in doing so truly put that 4 point deduction behind them.

Wrexham themselves have not started the season well, they have been hard to beat in the Championship having drawn 4 of their opening 7 games, however they have won just 1 with the other 2 drawn.

That sole victory was at Millwall, a resounding 3-0 win coming just after we ourselves had put 5 past the South East London club.

But in their last outing at West Ham they were walloped 6-0 and looked a shadow of the side they were last season

That sees them start the weekend in 19th place on 7 points, a position that is only 3 points above the relegation zone and they could indeed go into the bottom 3 if they are beaten by Saints and results go against them elsewhere.

Former Saints player Phil Parkinson has overseen a meteoric rise through the divisions that finally came to an end last season with promotion to the Premier League being a step too far, now he finds himself under fire for the first time in his 5 year reign at the club.

I can't see Tonda Eckert making many changes from the team that beat Bristol City, although we know that he rarely actually picks the same team two games in a row.

I can only see 3 possible changes one of those could be Flynn Downes if he is not fit and ready to go after coming off last weekend at half time.

The first could be in defence where Keven Schlotterbeck has already impressed Saints supporters, who will partner him though is up for grabs, Nathan Wood has been the usual choice, but at Lincoln a fortnight ago Jack Stephens strangely replaced him.

In the midfield there could be a change out wide, Leo Scienza has not fired on all cylinders yet and has been substituted in each of the last 6 Championship games, usually Eckert has rotated Kuryu Matsuki & Tom Fellows, but could he pull out a shock for this game and play both leaving Scienza on the bench.

Wrexham boss Phill Parkinson will possibly feel he has to make changes after that West ham debacle, striker Nathan Broadhead was an unused sub in that game and will definitely not play against Saints after picking up a thigh injury in training, meaning he has also had to pull out of the Wales squad for the International break.

He perhaps wont be a big miss as he has only played in 3 of the opening 7 games and hasn't scored in any of them, indeed scoring is the Welsh club's problem, only notching 7 in 7 League games.

There was more positive news for Wrexham, however, with Josh Windass and Ben Sheaf both in contention to face Saints, Windass has not scored for the club yet this season in his 4 appearances, 2 of which have been off the bench and Sheaf has not played at all this season.

The big question though is how Wrexham will respond their drubbing at the London Stadium last Friday, will they come out fired up and keen to show that was a one off or will it have knocked the stuffing out of them.

Either way they are at a crossroads early in the season, it could go either way, a defeat will see them staring at the relegation battle, but a win could push them back into the promotion frame.

Wrexham are a tough nut to crack this season, before the West Ham game they had conceded just 5 in their first 6 games, but it is their lack of firepower that is letting them down, their joint top scorer is Jacques Ekomie with just 2 goals.

Last season's top scorer with 16 was Josh Windass but he has struggled this season and not yet opened his account, Kieffer Moore got 11 last term and has just 2 this, and Nathan Broadhead notched 7 and as mentioned will miss the game through injury.

However like last year we have to have faith in ourselves to overpower the opposition as we have done in recent games, the big issue this season so far has been our inability to keep a clean sheet and we could do with doing that for the first time in the League this season.

Let's get this game won and then we can go into the International break and work a little bit more on the defensive side of things.

I think we are yet to fire on all cylinders this season, so it shows our potential in the fact that we would still be 2nd without that 4 point deduction, we now have to show that is our true position and start winning away from home.

Via Reuters

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