Alex Neil rates this Southampton squad but still fancies Millwall's chances

At Friday's press conference, someone asked Alex Neil about Southampton, and he knew exactly how to respond. Southampton are "a good side," he said, "one that won a lot of games late last season and has started this one reasonably well." It was tongue firmly in the cheek stuff.

Mentioning that coming to St Mary's is always going to be difficult and that Southampton, with the squad they have, is likely to be up there challenging is really par for the course for a visiting manager. It may appear generous. That's not really the case. Neil's words are designed to put every ounce of unwanted pressure back on to the home side.

The Millwall boss was clearly hung up on the spending power of the South Coast club and how much the squad had cost them to put it together. Setting this match up as a David v Goliath epic plays perfectly into Millwall's hands.

The compliment about what the squad cost

Despite the EFL's overzealous four-point deduction, Southampton will be expected to be challenging again at the business end of the season.

Sport Republic and the fans will be expecting that too, and there's no point hiding behind the fact that, in this division, Southampton are currently a wealthy club.

The arrivals of James Ward-Prowse and Keven Schlotterbeck this week just underline Alex Neil's point. Southampton have been able to buy their way up to the top of the table. Millwall have done it mostly through hard graft and building an identity.

Two really strong performances

Millwall took four points off the Saints last season. In late November at The Den, and six minutes into added time, Tristan Crama fired home from a tight angle to hand Millwall all three points. Having just drawn level through a Finn Azaz equaliser, that was a bitter pill to swallow.

Gavin Bazunu, who has this week joined Championship newbies Bolton Wanderers, was in no-man's-land for that goal. Taylor Harwood-Bellis looked like he was playing his own version of spot-the-ball, and Joe Aribo was wandering around, seemingly without a care in the world. Even Oriol Romeu go a brief run out before everybody conceded that the Spaniard was sadly past it at this level.

In contrast, the New Year's Day 'rematch' at St Mary's was a complete snoozefest. Both teams failed to score in a match that only Tonda Eckert could find some enthusiasm about. He hadn't seen it the same way as the fans who booed the side off had.

Alex Neil covets the four points that his side took off Southampton last season and will be looking for a similarly frustratingly robust performance at St Mary's today.

Alex Neil is the manager being financially backed

Alex Neil's gripe with Southampton is unfair given that Southampton have had to sell to buy this summer. Shea Charles' move to Fulham has financed most of Sport Republic's business, and the impending departure of Taylor Harwood-Bellis should take care of any financial pressure for the rest of the season.

Neil has been backed by the Millwall board, and his summer spending spree amounting to £7m is not to be sniffed at.

Whatever happens today, this is a match between genuine promotion challengers and a top six at best Millwall side.

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