Our Southampton Team Preview takes an in-depth look at their prospects ahead of the new Draft Premier League season. These hints and tips will provide essential information to enable you to get ahead in your Fantasy EPL competition during the pre-season!
Here we outline the prospects of each team for the upcoming season, highlight major signings, provide a predicted starting eleven, and also a projection of the top-scoring players for each team, as well as some hidden gem players for the new season. Check back for regular updates to these Team Preview articles!
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Southampton Team Preview
First up in our Premier League Team Preview’s is Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton side. The Saints will be looking to build upon a really strong second half of the season heading into the 20/21 campaign!
Last Season
It was not a good start to last season for Southampton. In fact, it was terrible. The Saints lost eight of their first 12 games, which included the historic 9-0 defeat to Leicester in front of their own fans in Gameweek 10. However, Hasenhuttl somehow managed to turn things around after the Southampton board stuck by him through this rough patch. Not only did the Austrian turn things around, he actually exceeded pretty much all expectations and finished in 11th place in the Premier League! Southampton beat Chelsea on Boxing Day and Tottenham on New Years Day. And they ended the season unbeaten in their final seven games, which included a victory over Manchester City!
Danny Ings was their incredible performer, as he scored 22 league goals and almost won the Golden Boot. Elsewhere, Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek created a solid defensive partnership, James Ward-Prowse came of age and took over the captaincy, Stuart Armstrong performed consistently well in the second half of the season, and even Che Adams got involved at the end of the season. This is a side on the up!
Top Scoring 19/20 Players
- Danny Ings: 429.5 points
- James Ward-Prowse: 384 points
- Nathan Redmond: 291 points
Transfer Activity
Hasenhuttl has moved quickly to make the loan signing of Kyle Walker-Peters a permanent one after he initially joined to cover for the departed Cedric. Walker-Peters was in and out of the side during his loan period, but you could see that the quality was there. The young right-back will establish himself in the side this season. Another defender has also arrived, with Mohammed Salisu joining from Real Valladolid in a £10.9m deal. Salisu is a young center-back who will provide plenty of competition to Stephens, Bednarek, and Vestergaard.
Elsewhere, Southampton has lost combative central midfielder Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg, as he has moved to Tottenham. This will be a big loss to Southampton, and they need to move quickly to bring a replacement in. We’re not sure if any other new signings are needed, as they have players like Djenepo and Boufal to provide competition to Armstrong and Redmond in the wide areas. Strikers Adams, Long, and Obafemi will be competing to partner Ings up front.
Premier League Prospects
As we’ve said above, this is a side on the up! We’re predicting a top-half finish for Southampton next season, as Hasenhuttl seems to be building something really special on the south coast. The Saints have a good mix of quality individual players and solid team players who will put it all on the line every single game. Losing midfielder Hojbjerg is huge, but hopefully, a replacement will be brought in before the season starts. The Danish international was in and out of the starting eleven at the end of the season, and Southampton still performed well without their former captain.
Ings and Ward-Prowse are the key players to note in this Southampton Team Preview, but there are plenty of decent assets to go round. Players like Redmond and Armstrong have Top 50 potential, and the likes of Adams and Walker-Peters will provide decent returns for players that will be taken towards the end of drafts. We highly recommend bringing a couple of Southampton assets into your Fantrax rosters!
For details of the current Southampton Set-Piece Takers, click here!
Predicted League Position: 9th
Predicted Southampton Starting Eleven
- Vestergaard and Salisu will be providing competition at center-back
- For now, Romeu will be slotting into central midfield alongside Ward-Prowse
- Long and Obafemi will likely start the season behind Adams in the pecking order
Projected Top Scoring Players
Danny Ings is one of two marquee Southampton players on Fantrax. The Englishman was the 12th highest scoring player lasts season, thanks to his incredible tally of 22 league goals. Ings has been struggling with injuries the last few years, but last season he managed to play in all 38 league games, which is really encouraging for him. Apart from the obvious points for goals, Ings also fills out his stats sheet fairly well with key passes, aerial wins, and successful dribbles. Ahead of our upcoming Draft Rankings, we’ll be rankings Ings alongside the likes of Firmino, Martial, Pepe… maybe even Aguero. Yes, he is that good. If you can draft the Southampton forward in the third or fourth round, you would have done really well!
And the second marquee Fantasy EPL attraction from The Saints. One of our favorites, James Ward-Prowse. The Englishman was the 23rd highest scoring player last season, mainly due to the fact that he’s so consistent with his Fantrax scoring. Ward-Prowse scored five goals and gained four assists last season, as well as providing the 9th most key passes in the whole league. The Southampton man also scores pretty well for tackles and aerials, due to his central midfield position. We’re really high on Ward-Prowse this season. He’s now the Southampton captain and controls all of the set-pieces. We highly recommend drafting him in the third round of a 12 team draft. Around the 30th overall pick in the draft.
Our final Southampton asset to back here is Stuart Armstrong. The Scottish midfielder was in-and-out of the starting eleven during the first half of the season, but he really found some form after Christmas. Armstrong was Southampton’s third-highest scoring player from 1st January until the end of the season. He scored just five points less than Ward-Prowse during this period. Now that the midfielder is established in the side, and has experience playing in the Premier League, we’re backing him for a Top 50 finish next season. We’ll be looking to draft Armstrong around the 6th round of our drafts this summer.
Ones To Watch
Looking elsewhere, there are three Southampton assets that we’re pretty keen on. Defender Kyle Walker-Peters has made his loan move permanent, joining from Tottenham in a £12m move. The right-back performed well during the Premier League restart, and we’re confident that he will establish himself in the side, and provide decent Fantrax returns now that he’s joined the club permanently. In midfield, Nathan Redmond is always a good Fantrax asset, due to his ability to rack of ghost points for key passes and successful dribbles. The former Norwich City man may score higher than Armstrong next season, and is likely to be in the Top 50 overall scoring players.
And finally, Che Adams is a forward who is really on the rise. The summer signing from last season had to wait until Gameweek 33 to score his first goal for the club, but soon followed this up with three more. Adams played really well during the Premier League restart, and he is really one to watch ahead of the new season. He was Southampton’s fifth-highest scoring player during the restart. If you have the chance to draft the Englishman towards the end of your draft, we would recommend you do so! He could be a really solid third or fourth choice forward for your Fantrax squad!
More Team Previews: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Brighton | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Leeds | Leicester | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Newcastle | Sheffield United | Southampton | Tottenham | West Brom | West Ham | Wolves
Our 20/21 Fantasy EPL Draft Kit is here!! Check out our dedicated page for essential pre-season content, including Draft Rankings, Team Previews, and Draft Strategy articles!
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