Southampton v Palace

St Mary's Stadium, Saturday 3.00pm

The Football League

Story so far

It's finally here. At last. Southampton away aint a bad game to kick off the season with.

We find ourselves with a very similar team to last season - pretty much the same solid defence and the same misfiring front line.

Palace go into the game with a couple of midfield injuries in Fletcher and Kennedy. Without the extra protection offered by the Fletch, Taylor is likely to opt for a 3 man midfield of Soares, Green and Watson. The attacking element? Who knows.

Having lost out to Derby in the Playoff Semi's, Southampton may now find themselves with an after playoff hangover.

They've sold their two best players in Gareth Bale and Chris Baird, leaving themselves with a threadbare defence.

The Southampton board have turned down a ridiculous bid of £5million for Kenwyne Jones. Having scored 14 goals last season - his highest ever total, the 22 year old could soon prove to be a one season wonder, although he does have time on his side.

Saints have kept hold of their trio of top scorers in Saganowski, Rasiak and Jones, so should still have goals in their game but how will their defence cope this season? Jordan is insistant that this is Morrison's season. Hopefully he can get the ball running on Saturday.

Team news

Boss Peter Taylor has suffered a blow with news that midfield duo Paul Ifill and Carl Fletcher will miss the clash due to hamstring injuries.

"Ifill and Fletcher will be very doubtful for the first game," said Taylor. "Fletch might have a slight chance but I don't think Paul will make it.

"They've both got slight hamstring tears. Hopefully it's nothing too terrible but I think they'll be struggling."

Mark Kennedy and new signing from Lincoln Jeff Hughes, both suffering from groin strains, are rated doubtful.

New boy Tony Craig is set for his debut at left-back, while Jose Fonte, on a year's loan from Benfica, is set for a bench place.

Southampton's Youssef Safri will make his Saints bow after this week's transfer from Norwich.

Claus Lundekvam injured, and DARREN POWELL suspended, so Chris Makin and Alan Bennett will feature in the heart of the defence.

Southampton - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
20th	0	0	0	0	0

Full league table

Southampton - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
5	4	0	1	10	8

Full form table

Our away record v Southampton

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
33	5	7	21	26	59

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
26/12/2006	League	Southampton	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
12/09/2006	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 2	Southampton
22/04/2006	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Southampton
25/01/2006	League	Southampton	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
07/05/2005	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Southampton

All time results

One to watch

Grzegorz Rasiak

Southampton's bad boy

N/A - 0 0

Palace old boys

Darren Powell (Suspended)

He was the man on fire last season and there is little doubt that his scoring prowess will fail him this season.

Grzegorz Rasiak is a big, powerful striker who can score with either foot and his head. The Szczecin born striker has good technical ability and will score goals at this level.

His fantastic movement has undone us in the past, but he is yet to challenge our stable and powerful defence.However, with Fletcher out, will we have enough protection from midfield?

Ref watch

Lee Probert

Last meeting

Southampton 1-1 Palace

Tuesday December 26 2006

Southampton: Davis, Ostlund, Baird, Lundekvam, Bale, Surman (Wright-Phillips, 88), Wright, Pele, Skacel, Rasiak, Jones (sent off 28)

Subs not used: Bialkowski, Idiakez, Dyer, Viafara

Red Card: Jones, 28

Goals: Baird 47

Palace: Flinders, Butterfield, Hudson, Ward, Granville, Soares, Fletcher (Reich, 46), Kennedy, McAnuff, Morrison (Freedman, 66), Kuqi

Subs not used: Wilkinson, Lawrence, Scowcroft

Yellow Cards: Fletcher, Flinders, Soares

Goals: McAnuff 54