Southampton fall behind Swansea when looking at these specific rankings
Southampton clash with Swansea City tonight in the pick of the bunch from the mid-week selection of Championship fixtures.
The Swans currently sit at the very top of the second tier pile, conceding just once all season long.
The Saints haven't lost at home in league action since January, and the last time a league leader rocked up to St. Mary's, they were humbled 5-1, as Alex Neil's Lions were torn to shreds by the rampant hosts.
It's clear that both teams have frightening attacks, with Žan Vipotnik and Adam Idah for the away side two top-quality Championship strikers. Ross Stewart is out injured, but Southampton fans know all too well that he's also a potent second-tier machine on his day.
Southampton, of course, boast Cyle Larin, Leo Scienza, and Finn Azaz, with Larin declared the best centre-forward in the division, recently, by Tonda Eckert. Bias aside, he does have five red-hot goals next to his name this season already.
Swansea edge it defensively, with their impressive record this season, and - according to these specific rankings - they win the midfield battle as well.
Swansea pip Southampton in these rankings
Football League World has recently ranked the top seven Championship midfields, and the Saints come in at a lowly sixth spot, according to their grading system.
The article does state that Eckert has plenty of midfield talent at his fingertips, namely Azaz, but the lack of depth is worrying centrally.
Swansea just pips them in fifth spot, with Elijah Just and Sebastian Eustaquio highlighted as two eye-catching additions in the middle of the park.
The Canadian is unrelenting with his energy levels, having covered a startling 12.8km during the Swans' bore 0-0 draw with Wrexham last time out.
With Jay Fulton also present with the captain's armband as Mr Reliable, FLW do have a point that the Welsh side's midfield is slightly superior to Southampton's.
Eckert, when talking pre-match about the showdown with the early table toppers, also mentioned the midfield battle as being key, with the Saints having to grapple with the likes of Eustaquio in order to clinch their first league victory of September.
Eckert agrees that the midfield battle will be key
To add more context, this season so far, Swansea have won a league-high of 5.2 tackles, duels or interceptions per minute of opponent possession, as per the Daily Echo.
Being able to stifle this energy and match it will be paramount if the South Coast side want to beat the second tier pacesetters, with the German complimentary of Matos and Co's style.
He said: "Even last season, they had one of the highest outputs. If you want to compete against them, you need to be able to run a lot.
"They have a high physical output, and they've been quite consistent in the way that they approach games. I remember our game in April.
"It was the same thing in the first half. They keep coming, and then you need to be prepared to find solutions against the high energy and the press.
"We actually played one of our best games last year at Swansea away, so we'll make sure that we connect to what we did last time we played them."
Yet, despite the Swansea's midfield sticking out as daunting, Southampton did manage to beat the tenacious Welsh side on their own patch last season 2-1, when Matos was in his infancy in the dug-out.
Cameron Archer would score the last-ditch winner during this memorable away win, with the heroic goalscorer now out on loan in France with Auxerre.
Not losing against the Swans since 2017, too, the hope will be that St. Mary's can be lively and noisy from minute one to help Eckert's hosts to a win.
After all, Milllwall are also well-known for being energetic and tackle-heavy and were crushed 5-1 by the Saints last month, with Matos needing to do his own homework, as well, on the talented players the German has at his disposal.
It has all the ingredients in its favour of being an entertaining, hard-fought contest, with the home masses praying a third league victory of the season is secured come the full-time whistle, as Southampton's midfield comes out on top.
