Saints are preparing themselves for their first taste of Johnstone's Paint Trophy action this evening. Kick off 7pm.
Boss Alan Pardew has already indicated that he will field a strong side in the competition, but is mindful of the hectic fixture schedule that Saints are currently in the middle of with another League One match on Friday night.
"It's a bit of a problem for us as we only have two days to recover," the manager explained. "With that in mind, I am going to have to be a very careful of some of our larger guys on Tuesday night, as their recovery will be hampered if they play the full ninety minutes, so there will be one or two i'll be looking at on 65 minutes and if we're in a position where we can, we'll ease the workload on them."
New loan addition from Reading, Michail Antonio may feature in the second round tie against Torquay United tonight, whilst Bartosz Bialkowski returns from his loan period at Barnsley where he helped the Tykes to two wins in a week. Wayne Thomas is also included after overcoming a knock, but Morgan Schneiderlin has not recovered from a groin injury in time for the match.
Goalkeeper Michael Poke is currently on loan at the Gulls, but is ineligible to face his parent club, so former Saint Scott Bevan is likely to be between the posts for the visitors.
Unlike the league ruling which allows up to seven substitutes to be named, the Trophy only allows up to five replacements, with a sixteen to be selected from the following:
Saints (from): Davis, Bialkowski, James, Thomas, Mills, Trotman, Wotton, Perry, Harding, Lancashire, Gillett, Antonio, Holmes, Hammond, Preen, Paterson, N'Diaye, Saganowski, Lambert.
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*Please note the earlier kick-off time of 7pm which has been set for this game.
