At last, there is something to shout about for our resident Saints fans in the Transfer Tavern following the news that they will be travelling to Wembley at the end of the month.

Although their league form has been majorly inconsistent, our Landlord has especially been impressed by Claude Puel’s management, especially considering Southampton is his first job in English football. Despite the fact he endured a tricky festive period – the Frenchman can be happy with his performance thus far. Now, what he will be looking for from his squad is a bit of momentum in order to achieve that top half finish craved by the club at the start of the season.

Saints fans were treated to the last minute signing on deadline day with the arrival of Italian forward, Manolo Gabbiadini from Napoli for a fee believed to have an overall value of a reported £14million. The arrival of the forward is massive for a struggling Saints attack currently hampered by Charlie Austin’s long injury lay off. Although, Jay Rodriguez is expected to have recovered from the knock he received in the EFL semi-final win at Liverpool in time for this fixture.

It is widely expected that Gabbiadini will make his debut against a West Ham side that may well consist of a meeting with former Saints’ skipper, Jose Fonte, who left the club in the January transfer window and, with the game being held at St Mary’s, our Landlord expects Fonte to get a hostile reception from the home fans.

The last time these two sides met saw Southampton complete a 3-0 route at the London Stadium with Charlie Austin, Dusan Tadic and James Ward-Prowse compiling the misery on the Hammers who may well benefit from playing this fixture away from home.

Our Landlord begs to differ with that viewpoint and he believes this XI will surely beat West Ham…

GK: Fraser Forster

The big English goalkeeper is an instant pick for Claude Puel in Southampton’s goal, despite the fact he’s been relatively inconsistent of late. Needs a big performance, with the next batch of England international game coming up.

RB: Cedric Soares

The Portuguese defender may have lost his international team-mate, Jose Fonte, to opponents West Ham but our Landlord expects another consistent performance from the Euro 2016 winner as he pushes up and down the flanks.

CB: Maya Yoshida

Virgil van Dijk’s injury has placed a lot more responsibility on the performance of Yoshida who before the turn of the year was a regular back up in the Southampton squad. After years of slating from the Saints in the bar, the Japanese international has impressed of late.

CB: Jack Stephens

Young Stephens seems to be Puel’s choice to fill in for van Dijk until he recovers from injury and the defender’s education will continue against a West Ham attack surely featuring the physical Andy Carroll, though he did cope well away at Anfield.

LB: Ryan Bertrand

A firm fans’ favourite among the St Mary’s faithful, Bertrand is surely one of the first names of Claude Puel’s team sheet. Provides so much balance going both ways.

CM: Steven Davis

Davis will lead the Saints in the absence of van Dijk and the Northern Irishman will look to make an impact with his energy on the game, doing SO much in midfield SO well pretty much all the time.

CM: Oriol Romeu

The former Chelsea man has been revitalised under Claude Puel this season, providing an impressive shield to the back four in the process.

CM: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

Hojbjerg didn’t feature in the defeat to Swansea in mid-week but our Landlord expects Puel’s rotation policy to kick in and for him to replace Jordy Clasie in the Saints line up.

RW: Nathan Redmond

The brightest talent in the Southampton team, our resident Saints fans would like to see Redmond build on his impressive first half of the season, needing to provide more of an end product more often.

ST: Manolo Gabbiadini

The £14miilion signing from Napoli could be in line for a debut in front of the St. Mary’s faithful on Saturday who will be thrilled if he manages to get the better of former Saint, Jose Fonte.

LW: Jay Rodriguez

With Rodriguez recovered from the knock that he picked against Liverpool in the EFL Cup, could Puel be persuaded to replace Dusan Tadic with the Englishman in a position he is familiar with?

Our landlord believes that due to the Saints’ need for goals, it would not be a surprise to see Rodriguez line up in a wide position against the Hammers.