Key events
30 min: West Brom are crowded out in their own half as Brooks takes the ball and fires a low shot. Palmer dives to his left to collect safely.
29 min: Brooks picks up the ball on the right and fires in a tasty ball towards the front post, but Palmer is there to collect before Adam Armstrong can get a sniff.
28 min: Harwood-Bellis is the quarterback for Southampton at the moment, eyeing up the defence-splitting pass when he receives in the centre-circle.
26 min: Fraser runs in behind the West Brom defence but can’t nail the first touch from the lofted ball towards him.
24 min: In comes the delivery from Mowatt, Bartley gets a head on it before the ball makes its way back to Mowatt, who drills in a cross that is turned away for another corner. And then, for reasons not entirely known to me, the offside flag goes up. Southampton breathe easy.
23 min: Johnston jinks down the left for West Brom, winning a corner for his efforts.
21 min: Palmer punches away the corner, and Southampton build again from the back.
20 min: Southampton have a corner from the left … Smallbone delivers … short before crossing. It’s diverted away for another corner.
19 min: Southampton launch a break; well, Brooks launches a break, surrounded by West Brom shirts as he does brilliantly to drive and launch a shot.
18 min: A first tetchy moment for Southampton at the back as Fellows’ dinked cross from the right tests McCarthy, who back-pedals to tip the ball over for a corner.
16 min: Brooks hits the post! Armstrong makes a nice run into the right channel to collect a pass from the back and plays a tidy ball into the middle for the onrushing Brooks, whose shot from close range hits the outside of the post.
14 min: West Brom have just calmed the game down with some passing around at the back, though they haven’t looked all that sharp when they’ve gone forward.
12 min: Oooh penalty shout! There’s a ball dinked into the West Brom box and Brooks tries to get on the end of it, but goes down somewhat theatrically after a tangle with Townsend. Not given, and fairly so.
11 min: They go short with the cross before Diangana gets on the end of a mis-hit cross, heading just wide.
10 min: West Brom win a corner after Fellows’ cross from the right is blocked.
8 min: Oh my, Palmer nearly loses the ball as two Southampton shirts rush on to him. The keeper just about gets rid of the ball to stop the danger.
7 min: Rishi Sunak’s in the stands, by the way.
6 min: Diangana receives the ball well between the lines but can only send the ball out for a Saints throw.
5 min: There’s an electric atmosphere out there, that’s for sure.
4 min: Southampton dominate early possession, working it around comfortably at the back before Fraser runs on to a ball in the left channel. Townsend clears inside his box for West Brom.
2 min: The Saints fans roar as Southampton enter the West Brom half. Walker-Peters slides into the box from the left-hand side with a one-two and fires a shot that is blocked.
1 min: Southampton win a free-kick inside the first 20 seconds, but Smallbone’s delivery is poor, failing to pump the ball towards the men waiting inside the box.
Peep!
Southampton are in their usual red; West Brom are kitted out in their regular navy blue and white stripes. The visitors kick off, moving from right to left on my screen. Let’s play!
OK, the players are making their way out. Sort your snacks and drinks out.
The pre-match scenes: plenty of red.
A reminder of what happened in this fixture during the regular season: the Saints were 2-1 victors in November, with Adam Armstrong getting the winner after Kyle Bartley’s equaliser cancelled out Will Smallbone’s opener. Oddly enough the two goalscorers when Southampton won 2-0 at the Hawthorns in February were Fraser and Brooks, the men coming into the XI today.
Some more Championship reading before we get going. Here’s Nick Ames on the remarkable Ipswich story.
It’s a brutal game.
Right then, Southampton make two changes from the first leg: Ryan Fraser and David Brooks come in for Ryan Manning and Sékou Mara. West Brom have one – Jed Wallace replaces Brandon Thomas-Asante.
The teams
Here’s how they’re looking …
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to coverage of West Brom’s visit to St Mary’s. Neither side could find the net in the first leg so it all comes down to today’s scoreline, with Leeds waiting for the victors at Wembley. Russell Martin has told his Southampton players to “attack the game until you can’t any more”, so let’s hope we’ve got a show on tonight. It’s going to be nervy, squeaky, hopefully thrilling too, with Southampton looking for an instant return to the Premier League. West Brom have been away from the big table since 2021, when even the safe presence of Big Sam couldn’t keep them up. Now they look to Carlos Corberán for salvation. Kick-off’s at 8pm BST.
