Three big questions facing Southampton ahead of West Ham PL fixture

To lay it out for you, Saints are bottom of the table with 23 points. Adding two points to that total takes them to a level of safety. A further two levels with 12th.

The only question that really matters is - what division will this club be in come the new campaign starting in August?

But Saints will have to provide the answers to a series of conundrums on the way if they want the answer to that to be one they can stomach.

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Ahead of the visit to West Ham United this Sunday, in front of the Sky Sports cameras and televised with kick-off from 2PM, here are three big questions Ruben Selles faces…

What shape have the squad returned from their countries in?

Club managers will always say they are proud of their players who can represent their country etcetera but the veil sometimes lifts to reveal their true feelings.

While it is a spectacular achievement for the likes of Romeo Lavia to make their Belgium debut at 19 years old this week, the first thing Selles wants to hear is when he has come off the pitch and why.

Fortunately, it seems like the Belgian is all okay as he arrives bubble-wrapped at Staplewood fresh from victory over Germany. There are some concerns, though.

Che Adams withdrew from the Scotland squad through a minor concern and Mohammed Salisu did not feature in either of Ghana’s games due to injury.

Both would have been likely to start this weekend if fit and it will be hoped by Selles they are not concerns for him to be truly worried about.

Adding to that, the likes of Paul Onuachu, Joe Aribo and Mislav Orsic – struggling for game time at Saints too – did not feature at all or were just substitutes for their country this week.

It would depend on their personal commitment and level of enforced conditioning when they go away whether they return and more or less sharp than when they left.

Jan Bednarek’s international involvement represented something of a positive for the Spanish Saints boss though, following fears he may be seriously injured were put aside when he started for Poland.

Selles has a few days to take stock and assess his squad but he will not want to be forced into too many changes.

Is this finally a 50/50 fixture that suits Saints?

Perhaps this observation is only being made because belief is at the very core of why we follow a football club and to accept that we are without it is fatal.

Saints have notoriously given themselves a platform for lift-off with results against ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ clubs this season only to fail in the real six-pointer.

Narrow defeats against the likes of Nottingham Forest (0-1), Wolves (0-1) and Leeds United (1-0) are the reason Saints are in this predicament and could be the reason they are relegated.

All three of those teams were 19th with Saints bottom at the time they were defeated by them, so I suppose it is a better omen that West Ham currently occupy 18th.

A strong reason for their defeats in these games is that Saints struggle to break down teams who are sitting deep and inviting pressure.

These same teams then master counter-attacking and proficiency from set-pieces – two of the ways Saints are most susceptible to conceding.

When the onus is on the other team to attack and the pressure of expectancy is relieved is when Saints play their most free, attacking football. See the two wins versus Chelsea.

An argument can be made that this is – and, of course, Saints did win at Goodison Park for their only victory in eight league games under Nathan Jones – the first 50/50 six-pointer which suits Saints.

The pressure is on West Ham – Europa League semi-finalists last year – to get out of the relegation zone in front of their own fans at London Stadium.

David Moyes could face the sack if Selles’s side turn up and turn them over. Although it is a relegation scrap, West Ham will be expected to attack their bottom-of-the-league counterparts.

Could this be the six-pointer which suits Saints and sees them finally capitalise on a platform they have given themselves with a 3-3 draw versus Tottenham Hotspur.

Do the squad believe they can beat the drop?

This one is obviously difficult to answer now and perhaps still will not be answered by 4PM on Sunday evening, but there are clues.

One thing Selles has been very clear about is creating a comfortable environment for this squad to be able to perform in – but that does not mean they do not necessarily believe.

It is a young group with limited experience in this kind of situation but they are having to learn fast and learn hard. It is why the likes of Bednarek have been brought back in the first place.

Saints have come from behind to earn 12 of their 23 points this season, including the most recent of those versus Spurs this month, and that has to represent something.

Selles, aside from one interesting comment on Lavia amid a storm of media hype, has never sought to apportion blame for anything onto his players.

Although not standard practice, Selles’s relationship with the players has remained the same from assistant manager to coach to manager. Some refer to him as ‘Ruben’ in media interviews.

Selles has seen the error in the ways of Jones who came before him and has identified that the players must firstly understand and secondly believe if they are to produce.

On the contrary, you can point to the fact that a handful of key players are waiting to see what happens with the league table before making decisions on where their future lies.

However, Adams admittedly appeared to not even know his contract was up in June 2024 when prompted during an interview at Staplewood Campus this month.

Saints still face the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool in their final 10 and it is going to take pulling up some trees somewhere to make a great escape happen.