The big question between now and 3pm on Saturday is whether Virgil Van Dijk should be in the starting XI against Manchester United at St Mary's.
Maurico Pellegrino has some tough thinking to do ahead of the visit of Manchester United, he has to decide whether Virgil Van Dijk is ready to start the game or should again be on the bench.
The options available to the manager are firstly to leave the back four as it started against Palace at the weekend, the case for would be that Yoshida has put in 100% effort in recent weeks including the trip to Palace and has done nothing wrong, he does not deserve to be dropped. Add to that the fact that Van Dijk will still be short of match fitness and it could make sense.
But alternatively it cannot be denied that Van Dijk is a much better player than the Japanese defender, is a 90% match sharp Van Dijk better than a 100% Yoshida ? There are many that would say yes and to take emotion out of it, if Van Dijk had not had the issues of the past few months and was back in the frame after injury then this could well have been the vote for most Saints fans, so from this pount of view if we take the emotion out of the decision, then Van Dijk should start if the manager is satisfied that his fitness and attitude are right.
A third option would be to start with a back three as Pellegrino finished the game with on Saturday with Van Dijk slotting in the middle between Yoshida and Hoedt, again this has its merits, but perhaps the biggest arguement against is that it is relatively untried by the personel that would be asked to play it, only 13 minutes against a Palace side who by that side were a spent force is a lot different to facing United.
These three options would perhaps be the choices that most Saints fans would think that the manager might make, however he also has Jack Stephens in the mix and there are those that although would not pick Stephens before either Yoshida or Hoedt in a back four might prefer him to start in a back three before Van Dijk.
So what is your choice, cast your vote in our online poll using the link below and give your opinion in the comments box.
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/209314/should-van-dijk-