Southampton V Leeds Preview

Southampton V Leeds United

St Mary's Stadium

Saturday August 6, 17.20pm

Southampton start their Championship return with a tricky home game against Leeds. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of football at St Mary's, Saints have a good early test against one of the favourites for promotion.

Alex Chamberlain is still very much a Southampton player. However, the young winger suffered an ankle injury during a pre-season friendly with West Brom, and may not feature in the season opener.

Dean Hammond should return for Southampton in a very competitive and strong midfield which should see Jack Cork and Steve de Ridder make their debuts.

Leeds may various injury problems up front, most notably Luciano Becchio and Davide Soma. However, new singing Darren O'Dea should go into the starting line-up after his move from Celtic.

Both teams will fancy their chances, but Leeds will go into the game as favourites. Having missed out on the playoffs last season, the Yorkshire side will want a good start to the season.

Southampton usually make a slow start to their season, and Leeds' defeat on the opening day against Derby was the first time in 21 years, they had lost on the opening day.