Tonda Eckert could unleash Southampton’s new Tino Livramento at Lincoln
Southampton and Lincoln City don't often share a pitch.
Today's lunchtime encounter between the newly promoted Imps, and Tonda Eckert's visitors, is the first time the two teams have clashed in league action in 65 years, with Lincoln often floating about the lower reaches of the EFL pyramid, as opposed to the Championship.
Now, they're in the big time, and they have four points next to their name from an encouraging few contests to start the season, one more than the Saints have, due to a points deduction.
The underdogs would love to shock the South Coast side at Sincil Bank, knowing that they came unstuck on their first away day this season when facing Watford.
Eckert could make a couple of changes for the trip to Lincolnshire, after Southampton were made to settle for an unwanted 1-1 draw against Birmingham City mid-week, with one alteration already confirmed by the German, unusually.
The already confirmed change
Indeed, Eckert, when discussing the Lincoln lunchtime showdown, confirmed that James Ward-Prowse would be starting the match.
It's a logical change, with Cameron Bragg probably making way for the iconic number 30, as he impressed in flashes when being subsituted on in the young Scotsman's place at St. Andrew's on Tuesday evening.
Eckert also cited the exciting return of Ward-Prowse as being a short-term plaster applied to the disappointing news of Shea Charles' exit.
Amazingly, the ageing midfielder has never played against Lincoln in his professional career in a league setting, so he will be hoping to pick up a goal and an assist to make the Imps remember him, and to firm up his starting spot.
He isn't the only new signing that could be unleashed into the action at Sincil Bank, though, with the matter-of-fact manager also confirming that this young defender will travel with the squad, who might end up being the German's very own Tino Livramento.
Eckert could unleash the new Livramento
Livramento is now an England international, but before he was playing in the Premier League with Newcastle United, and lining up under Thomas Tuchel, he was a wide-eyed talent for the future on the South Coast.
The Magpies number two would make his top-flight debut for the Saints when he was only 18 years of age, and he never looked back from this moment onward, with six clean sheets collected across 28 Premier League outings during the 2021/22 season.
Winning 5.1 duels on average, and collecting two goal contributions, too, Livramento stuck out as a raw player, but an up-and-coming gem who could do it all, whether it was bombing down the flanks a marauding full-back, or getting stuck in.
Zach Abbott could well be Eckert's own answer to Livramento in the here and now, with the Nottingham Forest loanee only 20 years of age, but full of top-flight experience, like the one-time Saints defender when he was first cutting his teeth.
Last season, Abbott would feature ten times for the Tricky Trees in Premier League and Europa League action, and routinely looked at ease with the demanding level, collecting two clean sheets in Europe subsequently.
The hope will be, even if his time with Southampton is fleeting, like Livramento's was, that he can be remembered for giving his all to the cause and securing promotion.
Livramento just about did enough on his end to steer the Saints to top-flight safety during his sole season at the club.
Abbott will be looking to do his part in getting the South Coast giants back to the promised land, having been dubbed a presence that "can have an impact straight away" by his new Berlin-born boss.
It did sound as if Eckert wasn't going to throw him straight in, like Ward-Prowse, but he could be unleashed at some stage during today's early kick-off, with a fierce test coming his way against a tall and direct Lincoln side.
