Saints Stuff
- Thread starter fran-MLs little camera
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Actually the Norwich - Ipswich game will likely get moved to Sunday at noon. So it's possible they could play on Thursday if our game was pushed back to Sunday as well.
That would make sense. TV picks for that weekend due this week too.
I'm sure they'll want to leave that last midweek free just in case of the unlikely event that we beat Arsenal.
I don't know why I'm surprised at the EFL seemingly deciding against the obvious option.
If we do lose to Arsenal, then it won't really matter. But why take the risk that we beat them and therefore need to rearrange our home game vs Blackburn? The obvious choice in my mind was to put Saints v Ipswich on the 14 (or 15) April and Pompey v Ipswich on 28 (or 29) April. That way 28 (or 29) April is kept free for us, just in case we need to Blackburn game.
Maybe the EFL think the Blackburn game could be moved to 14 (or 15) April. But that's not leaving much to give notice about the change. Surely it's too tight?
But we'll probably lose to Arsenal and it won't matter.
I should add though that if Saints v Ipswich is moved 28 (or 29) April, I do think that could be advantageous to us in terms of knowing what other teams have already done (if we happen to have any chance of a top six finish). Yes I know that games in hand aren't of any use if you lose them, but we don't currently know if a draw against Ipswich would be fine or if we need to win. I've always believed that if we had played Swansea on the original date, Hughes wouldn't have brought on Gabbiadini for Bednarek. I suspect he'd have more inclined to play for the 0-0 - "a decent point away from home" - and that might have relegated us. But by playing it in the final midweek, we knew the importance of a win.
If we do lose to Arsenal, then it won't really matter. But why take the risk that we beat them and therefore need to rearrange our home game vs Blackburn? The obvious choice in my mind was to put Saints v Ipswich on the 14 (or 15) April and Pompey v Ipswich on 28 (or 29) April. That way 28 (or 29) April is kept free for us, just in case we need to Blackburn game.
Maybe the EFL think the Blackburn game could be moved to 14 (or 15) April. But that's not leaving much to give notice about the change. Surely it's too tight?
But we'll probably lose to Arsenal and it won't matter.
I should add though that if Saints v Ipswich is moved 28 (or 29) April, I do think that could be advantageous to us in terms of knowing what other teams have already done (if we happen to have any chance of a top six finish). Yes I know that games in hand aren't of any use if you lose them, but we don't currently know if a draw against Ipswich would be fine or if we need to win. I've always believed that if we had played Swansea on the original date, Hughes wouldn't have brought on Gabbiadini for Bednarek. I suspect he'd have more inclined to play for the 0-0 - "a decent point away from home" - and that might have relegated us. But by playing it in the final midweek, we knew the importance of a win.
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Saturday 14th March 2026. Football League Championship. Live on Sky Sports Football.
Coventry City FC v Southampton FC 12:30 ko.
Referee: Farai Hallam,
Assistant Referee: Richard Woodward,
Assistant Referee: Mark Stevens,
Fourth Official: Adam Herczeg,
Coventry City FC v Southampton FC 12:30 ko.
Referee: Farai Hallam,
Assistant Referee: Richard Woodward,
Assistant Referee: Mark Stevens,
Fourth Official: Adam Herczeg,
Wednesday 18th March 2026. Football League Championship.
Southampton FC v Norwich City FC . 19:45 ko.
Referee: Lewis Smith,
Assistant Referee: Ian Cooper,
Assistant Referee: Nigel Lugg,
Fourth Official: James Durkin.
Southampton FC v Norwich City FC . 19:45 ko.
Referee: Lewis Smith,
Assistant Referee: Ian Cooper,
Assistant Referee: Nigel Lugg,
Fourth Official: James Durkin.
Think they can as long as it’s not a re-arranged Saturday 3pm game. No idea when it was scheduled for but if it was one of the Easter weekend games then don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to
So then what happens if Blackburn needs to be moved?
The EFL are banking on us losing to Arsenal (understandable) - and are seemingly happy to take the risk that the Blackburn game might need to be moved, at short notice, to Wednesday 15 April (or another day that week - but the 15 would look most likely).
That would be wrong in my eyes. But I think it would be more likely than trying to sandwich the game in on Thursday 30 April, which would be even worse.
Other than Monday next week (which can definitely be ruled out), I'm not sure there are any other dates where both us and Blackburn would have a non-matchday both the day before and the day after. (I suppose there technically might be Friday 24 April, if the SF was to be on the Sunday).
All the EFL needed to do was put the two Ipswich games the other way round. It hardly matters to Ipswich - it's still two midweek trips to the south coast. Why take that tiny risk that we might beat Arsenal?
