Having recorded back-to-back home wins, Saints' next match sees us travel to in-form Everton on Saturday.
With last weekend's 4-1 over Aston Villa opening our Barclays Premier League points account and Tuesday's defeat of Sheffield Wednesday taking us into Round Four of the Capital One Cup, there is plenty of optimism around St Mary's ahead of the trip north.
Saturday's game is a significant one for a number of Saints players. Danny Fox, for example, is a boyhood Everton fan and came through their youth system before being released by David Moyes in 2005.
Frontman Rickie Lambert, on the other hand, is a lifelong Liverpool supporter and says he is relishing the opportunity to play at the home of the Reds' fiercest rivals.
Saints gaffer Nigel Adkins is also a Merseysider, so will undoubtedly be looking forward to returning to his home city this Saturday.
The Toffees have enjoyed a barnstorming start to the 2012-13 campaign, leaving them third in the Premier League standings ahead of this weekend's fixtures.
There was a minor blip in midweek for Moyes's side, though, as they were dumped out of the Capital One Cup when they lost 2-1 away at Leeds United – who, ironically, Saints will now face in Round Four.
There are few Saints connections among the Everton squad, though Steven Naismith played alongside Steven Davis at Glasgow Rangers before the duo moved south of the border in the summer.
Costa Rican left-sider Bryan Oviedo was briefly at teammate of Saints defender Jos Hooiveld's during their time with F.C. Copenhagen two-and-a-half years ago.
Team News
Having rested a number of First Team players for the midweek win over Sheffield Wednesday, Adkins must now consider which to reinstate for Saints' trip to Goodison Park.
The likes of Lambert, Jason Puncheon, Adam Lallana and Gastón Ramírez look likely to return following their excellent attacking showings in the demolition of Aston Villa a week ago.
Hooiveld missed that game due to a calf injury but returned to partner Maya Yoshida on Tuesday, with both now looking to hold off competition from José Fonte if they are to start this weekend.
Luke Shaw (illness), Emmanuel Mayuka (ankle) and Tadanari Lee (elbow) missed the win over the Owls but are likely to be in contention due to the short-term nature of their problems.
Jack Cork made his first appearance of the season on Tuesday but came off ten minutes from time with a knee injury, which will be assessed this week before a decision is taken as to whether he'll be involved on Saturday.
Moyes also made a number of alterations for his side's midweek visit to Elland Road, and is likely to now welcome the likes of Tim Howard back into his team tomorrow.
Tony Hibbert could return after missing the last two matches with a calf problem, but Darron Gibson's thigh injury will keep him out.
Previous Meetings
Our last meeting with Everton came in February 2005 at St Mary's, where goals from Peter Crouch and Henri Camara cancelled out an early opener from ex-Saint James Beattie to leave us on the verge of a vital three points before Marcus Bent's injury time leveller made it 2-2.
Earlier that season Saints were undone by another late goal as Leon Osman's 88th-minute winner consigned us to a 1-0 loss on our most-recent visit to Goodison Park.
The last time Southampton tasted victory in the blue half of Liverpool was in November 1997, when we ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Matt Le Tissier and Kevin Davies.
Overall the two teams have played one-another on 86 occasions. 42 of those have gone the way of the Toffees, 25 have resulted in Saints wins and 19 in draws.
Match Information
Lee Probert will referee tomorrow's game, and he will be assisted by Mr R Ganfield and M McDonough. Roger East is the fourth official.
If you plan to drive to Goodison tomorrow, head out of Southampton via the M3, A34, M40, M42 and M6. Exit at junction 26 onto the M58 and continue until the end, then go left at the gyratory to join junction 7 of the M57.
Exit the M57 at junction 4 to turn right into East Lancashire Road (A580), then follow the road across Queen's Drive into Walton Lane. Goodison Road is less than a mile along on the right.
Car Parking is available in Stanley Park, approximately half-a-mile from Goodison Park.
The nearest train station to the stadium is Kirkdale, which is around a mile from Goodison. Alternatively, fans can head to Sandhills, from where a frequent shuttle bus service known as Soccerbus runs to and from the ground.
If travelling via Sandhills, ask for a ticket to ‘Goodison Park’ and for an add-on of just £1 you’ll get a return trip on the Soccerbus. You can also pay as you board the bus – it’s just £1.50 for a single or return ticket.
The service runs for two hours before each Everton match up to 15 minutes before kick off and for 50 minutes after the final whistle.
Online Coverage
As with every First Team game, we'll be providing minute-by-minute coverage throughout the day on our official Twitter feed plus goal updates on our official Facebook page.
You can listen to live commentary courtesy of BBC Solent on Saints Player, where you can keep up to date with all the stats and scores from around the country.
Nigel Adkins and Artur Boruc spoke to Saints Player ahead of the game, and you can watch their interviews – as well as the gaffer's full press conference – now.
After tomorrow's game there will be plenty more content on saintsfc.co.uk and Saints Player, so stay tuned!
Fans travelling to Everton are asked to contribute to our next official matchday programme by sending in their pictures via Twitter and Instagram – just add the hashtag #MarchingIn.
You can also email your photos from throughout your trip north to programme@saintsfc.co.uk.
Share this: