Tonda Eckert might be tempted by ex-Baggies surprise as Southampton face West Brom

Southampton start November in the Championship with a tough away trip to West Bromwich Albion.

Both teams are deep in the playoff mix at the time of writing, with the showdown between the two promotion hopefuls promising to be a fascinating watch for the neutral.

The Saints can boast the likes of Finn Azaz and Leo Scienza in their starting XI, while James Morrison's men have five-goal hero Jimmy-Jay Morgan to show off to other teams, alongside the wider starring cast of Isaac Price and Felix Horn Myhre.

Kuryu Matsuki is another eye-catching attacker that hasn't been mentioned who could feature later on tonight, with the Japan international up to four Championship goals for the season, after scoring the opener against Queens Park Rangers last time out.

Tonda Eckert commented on Matsuki's magnificent form, in the build-up to the clash at the Hawthorns, but did elude to the fact he could potentially be dropped, with how much football he has experienced as of late in the gruelling schedule.

Will Matsuki start at West Brom?

Matsuki has played an awful lot of football over the past couple of weeks.

Indeed, while others in Eckert's camp had a much-needed break from action during the international fixtures, Matsuki played two times for Japan.

He was then thrown straight back into the hustle and bustle of the Championship, after featuring for the Samurai Blue, when the South Coast Derby landed on the calendar.

He was present in all five of Southampton's second tier fixtures during October, and he excelled, with a red-hot three goals coming his way across four games, as he scored big goals during wins over Norwich City and West Ham United by breaking the deadlock on both occasions.

Matsuki's minutes in October (club + country):

Yet, while he is enjoying his football now, the last thing the promotion chasers will want to do is accidentally aggravate an injury by overplaying their tricky number 27, with Cyle Larin, Caspar Jander, and Flynn Downes already sidelined.

As a direct consequence, Matsuki might not start from the get-go in the West Midlands, as that would be three games in the space of a week with Preston North End also in mind on Saturday, with Eckert noting that all these minutes is a "physical challenge" for the ex-FC Tokyo forward.

Dropping Matsuki in order to keep him fresh could be just the opening back into the first-team picture that this reserve figure needs, as the German potentially springs an ex-Baggies surprise later on.

Eckert could spring an ex-Baggies surprise

Tom Fellows was a much-loved presence at West Brom during his lengthy stay at his boyhood club.

The 23-year-old would go on to make 96 first team appearances for the Baggies, with his breakout season coming during the 2024/25 campaign, where he picked up four goals and 14 assists from 45 Championship outings.

Tony Mowbray, who managed Fellows briefly at the Hawthorns, would note he was a "wonderful" talent back in 2025, which is high praise, indeed, from a seasoned manager who has had many exciting attackers at his disposal during his varied managerial career.

This would spur the Saints into flexing their muscles in the transfer market to win Fellows for a whopping £10m last summer, but it just hasn't worked out for him at St. Mary's to date.

He only has one goal to shout about from 51 appearances, and while he does have eight assists under his belt, he has now gone his last nine second tier clashes without picking up an assist for Eckert and Co.

He has been regularly left on the bench as a result of his off-colour performances, but surely he would be up for changing his ongoing Saints narrative with an explosive display later on, if Matsuki isn't risked, as he would be facing his former side.

There's no bad blood between the two parties, but it would be very sweet for the forgotten number 18 if he managed to breathe life back into this dwindling Southampton career by getting one over on his boyhood employers, leaving Eckert with a healthy selection headache on the right flank in the process.