Southampton will make their shortest trip of the Premier League season to face Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium on Monday in a game that will be televised on Sky Sports, kicking off at 8pm. Bournemouth, under manager Andoni Iraola, play an aggressive, high-press style, averaging 43% possession compared to Southampton’s 60%. While Bournemouth have attempted the third-most long balls in the league, Southampton have tried the fewest. Bournemouth finished last season with 48 points, securing 12th place in the Premier League. However, Iraola will miss the match due to a touchline ban after accumulating yellow cards.
Russell Martin said “It’s a real contrast of beliefs on the game or whatever you want to call it, game model, all that stuff. Andoni has done a brilliant job, a really brilliant job, but it took him some time in the same way it’s taken us a bit of time to adapt and adjust. They’ve not looked back and they’ve just kept building on it and building on it. They have real clarity, which gives them so much strength, and they’ve recruited really well. We have to go there and try and bring the game that we want.”
Martin highlighted the contrasting styles between the two teams. Bournemouth’s aggressive pressing contrasts with Southampton’s possession-based approach, and the objectives of both teams in the match will be different.
Russell Martin said “It is two very different styles and two very different teams. What they’ll be looking for from the game is probably very different to what we’ll be looking for. We need to try and control as much of it as we possibly can, which is not easy against Bournemouth. Not easy at all. I’m looking forward to it.”
Southampton will be without Will Smallbone and Kamaldeen Sulemana for the match. Smallbone has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since August and is expected to return either after the international break or for the Arsenal game. Kamaldeen has yet to feature this season.
Russell Martin said “Will is still out for another week or two. Maybe on the other side of the international break or maybe the Arsenal game, but this week, no.”
This restructuring helps present the key information, with Russell Martin’s quotes and the broader context surrounding the upcoming match against Bournemouth.
