Thomas Frank’s Brentford are back on the road in midweek, heading to Southampton this Wednesday evening.
The Bees' suffered their first defeat in 13 Premier League games against Everton, but they have an instant chance to get back to winning ways against an ever-improving Southampton side.
The opposition
Southampton remain bottom of Premier League despite upturn in results
Southampton appear an entirely different team to the one which, under Nathan Jones, was swept aside 3-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium five weeks ago.
That defeat proved to be the penultimate game of Jones’ wretched four-month spell in charge, which ended a week later with the Saints bottom of the table, four points from safety.
However, fast forward a month and Southampton have taken seven points from four matches under former assistant manager Ruben Selles, a run which has seen a win at Chelsea, victory over Leicester City at St Mary’s, and Sunday’s goalless draw at Manchester United.
Given the congestion at the bottom of the Premier League, Southampton could find themselves 15th come full-time on Wednesday night if they secure another three points.
The blot on Southampton’s recent copybook was an Emirates FA Cup fifth-round defeat to Sky Bet League Two side Grimsby Town at the start of the month.
Southampton’s main issue this season has been goalscoring. They have the third-worst shot conversion rate in the division, converting 283 shots into a joint league-low of 20 goals.
James Ward-Prowse has scored six of those, three of which have come from direct free-kicks, while Che Adams has four.
The Saints have named 11 of the 15 youngest starting XIs in the top-flight this season - a deliberate policy from owners Sports Republic to buy young, talented players to move on in the future.
Despite the youth of their team, Saints have shown plenty of resilience to see out recent games. Their 1-0 wins over Chelsea and Leicester City were built on superb rearguard actions, while they had 17 shots at OId Trafford on Sunday against Manchester United.
Southampton had kept one clean sheet in 22 league matches prior to Selles taking over, conceding 40 goals. Under the Spaniard they’ve kept three clean sheets in four, conceding just once.
Selles has very quickly settled on his preferred defensive unit. Gavin Bazunu has been an ever-present in goal with the fit-again Kyle Walker-Peters joining Jan Bednarek, Armel Kotchap and Romain Perraud in his first-choice back four.
In front of that, Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia have started every game under Selles in the heart of midfield, as has January arrival Kamaldeen Sulemana on the wing.
It is in attacking areas that Selles has been searching for solutions; Carlos Alcaraz, Theo Walcott and Che Adams have replaced Mohamed Elyounoussi, Stuart Armstrong and Paul Onuachu for their last two matches.
The gameplan
With The Athletic's Southampton reporter Jacob Tanswell
"I think it has helped that they have gone back to basics. The football is a bit more similar to the way it was under Ralph Hasenhuttl, in terms of the 4-2-2-2 and the high press.
"The players are buying into it and they look more comfortable than they did under Nathan Jones, when the football was more direct and physical. Ruben Selles knows the players and they really like him.
"In terms of the short-term benefits, going back to what they are used to and how they trained under Ralph will be beneficial to their survival hopes."
Read the full interview with Jacob Tanswell
Team news
Roerslev to be assessed ahead of Southampton clash
Mads Roerslev is being assessed ahead of Brentford’s game against Southampton, having missed the 1-0 defeat to Everton last weekend with a hamstring problem.
Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) and Thomas Strakosha (ankle) are also unavailable, with the former expected to be out for up to two months.
Southampton will monitor Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who missed Sunday's draw at Manchester United with a minor injury, while Juan Larios and Tino Livramento remain sidelined.
The manager
Ruben Selles
Ruben Selles’ good start to life in charge at St Mary’s saw him confirmed as Southampton’s manager through to the end of the season late last month.
This is the 39-year-old’s first management role after a 15-year career on coaching staffs around Europe.
Beginning as a fitness coach at Greek club Aris Thessaloniki in 2009, Selles spent a year in the same role with the Villarreal youth team, before becoming assistant manager to Aleksandr Pobegalov at Russian club Shinnik Yaroslavl.
After returning to Aris as assistant manager, Azerbaijan was the next stop on his tour, spending two years as number two at Neftchi Baku.
He then held a chief data analyst role at Norwegian club Stromsgodset for two years, before returning to Azerbaijan as assistant to Gurban Gurbanov at Qarabag.
Another two-year spell as an assistant, this time to David Nielsen at Aarhus GF, followed before he took over the Valencia Under-18 squad.
From January 2021 to the summer of 2022, when he joined Southampton, Selles was assistant to Jess Thorup at Copenhagen.
When Ralph Hassenhuttl was sacked in November, Selles had a one-game spell in charge (a Carabao Cup victory on penalties over Sheffield Wednesday), before stepping back after the appointment of Nathan Jones.
He again took temporary charge following Jones’ dismissal in February, a role which was extended to the end of the campaign shortly after.
Last time out
Brentford 3 Southampton 0 (Premier League, 4 February 2023)
Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo scored late in the first half to set Brentford up for a third-straight home Premier League victory.
After being frustrated for much of the opening period, Mee headed home an Mbeumo cross to open the scoring shortly before the break.
The provider then turned scorer three minutes later, converting Yoane Wissa’s low cross.
Southampton rallied after the break without ever truly threatening a comeback.
It was then left to Mathias Jensen to wrap up the game with 10 minutes to play with a deft header.
Match officials
Bees look to keep up perfect record under Michael Salisbury
Referee: Michael Salisbury
Assistants: Matthew Wilkes and Timothy Wood
Fourth official: Graham Scott
VAR: Neil Swarbrick
Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard
It’s played five, won five for Brentford under Wednesday night’s referee Michael Salisbury.
Influenced to take up the whistle by his father, Graham, who ended his own 21-year career as an EFL referee at the end of the 2020/21 season, Salisbury was one of four officials added to the Select Group 1 of top-flight referees ahead of last season.
Salisbury's first two Brentford appointments, a 3-0 success at Luton Town and a 1-0 home win over Rotherham United, both came in our 2020/21 promotion-winning season.
Last season then saw a pair of 3-0 wins. The first came over Stoke City in the Carabao Cup with Wednesday’s opponents then beaten in the Premier League in May. This campaign’s one game was a 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion.
Southampton 22/23
307 fouls – 4th in Premier League
50 yellow cards – 11th in Premier League
0 red cards – joint-fewest in Premier League