Southampton boss Tonda Eckert says playing Leicester City twice in five days will not impact on their approach to Tuesday night’s Championship game – but it may do for the FA Cup tie on Saturday.
Saints travel to the King Power Stadium in the league before welcoming the Foxes to St Mary’s in the cup at the weekend.
When asked if the double-header changes how they prepare, Eckert said: “Maybe the second game. I think the first one, not so much.
“Obviously we need to watch a couple of images now with a change of manager just to get an idea if they have changed much because the last game was a red card after 15 minutes, so not too much to take away.
“But I think, in effect, it is more for the game on Saturday rather than the Tuesday one.”
Eckert expects to make changes to the starting line-up against Leicester despite the 1-0 win over Watford at the weekend.
“I think the quality that we have at the moment is that we have a high availability,” he added.
“I think that we have so much quality that at the moment not starting games but are ready to and we might need some fresh legs on Tuesday just for the fact it’s a short break, two days only and it’s an away game.
“So let’s assess a couple of players over the next days but I would assume that we have a couple of changes in the starting eleven.”
Southampton are 14th but just four points outside the play-off places after a run of three wins in their past four games – the other one was drawn.
