SAINTS’ FA Cup quarter-final at Wigan has been scheduled for Sunday, 18 March with kick-off at 1.30pm at the DW Stadium.
The club have been given an allocation of 4,600 tickets for the trip, with adult prices set at £20, £15 for over-65s, £10 for under-18s and £5 for under-11s.
The game will be broadcast live on BBC television.
The tie clashes with the Run Wigan Festival, which takes place on the same day.
But Wigan Council are said to be working with organisers to make sure there are no issues.
Wigan Run Festival organiser Matt Johnson told Wigan Today: “We are working with the club and Wigan Council to ensure the message gets out to both fans and runners, and that everyone can have a great day.
“The event will go ahead, as will the match, it’s just a matter of fine-tuning our planning for what’s going to be a big day for Wigan. It’s something we thought might happen and therefore we made plans to deal with it.”
Mauricio Pellegrino’s side reached the last eight after beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at The Hawthorns just under two weeks’ ago, having already won against Fulham and Watford in earlier rounds.
Wesley Hoedt and Dusan Tadic were on target at the Baggies to send Saints to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004/05.
The League One Latics meanwhile have felled a Premier League club in the third, fourth and fifth round, gaining a reputation as this campaign’s giant killers.
A Will Grigg goal saw Paul Cook’s side defeat runaway top-flight leaders Manchester City in the last round. They defeated Bournemouth and West Ham in earlier rounds.
OWEN Fee will be transported back to his six-year-old self should Lymington Town’s Southampton Senior Cup semi-final against Saints Under-23s beat the big freeze at Blackfield & Langley tomorrow (Thursday, 7.30pm).
The young midfielder was still at infant school when he signed an academy contract for Southampton FC.
He was released a few years later but still cherishes fond memories of his days as a youngster in red and white stripes.
And, more than a decade later, one player from his age-group is still on Saints’ books – fellow midfielder Callum Slattery who signed a new three-year deal for the club in July last year.
After parting company with Saints, Totton-based Fee joined Pace Pumas where he played under Shawn Kitcher.
He went to Testwood School, leaving as a 16-year-old and continuing his education at Sparsholt College’s thriving football academy.
From there he joined the Eastleigh scholarship system and, at the end of last season, was offered to stay on as a first-year apprentice with the Spitfires.
He trains with Eastleigh’s National League squad most of the time and is currently dual-signed for Lymington in the Sydenhams Premier Division.
Despite his tender years, 18-year-old Fee is one of Lymo’s top appearance makers this term, playing 38 times and scoring 14 goals.
Lymington, currently seventh in the Wessex top flight, have twice netted six in the Southampton Senior Cup so far.
They opened the campaign with a 6-2 win at neighbours Sway and beat Netley Central Sports 6-1 in the quarter-finals. In between, there was a tighter 2-1 affair at Priory Rovers.
Saints Under-23s, who are gracing the Cup this season as part of the centenary celebrations, have breezed past BTC Southampton 6-0, QK Southampton 12-0 and Winchester City 3-0.
Tomorrow’s winners will play either holders Sholing or Blackfield & Langley who were meant to meet at AFC Totton this evening.
That tie, however, was postponed early due to a frozen pitch with more bitterly cold weather on its way.
Southampton have both scored and conceded in 17 of their 28 Premier League games this season – already once more than in the entirety of the 2016-17 campaign (16/38).
Saints have won just two of their 11 Premier League meetings with Stoke (D5 L4), losing the last two in a row – they’ve never lost three league games in a row against them.
Stoke won the reverse fixture back in September 2-1 – they haven’t won both league meetings in a season against Southampton for 50 years, since the 1967-68 top-flight campaign.
The Potters have shipped a league-high 54 Premier League goals this season. Indeed, Paul Lambert’s side have been on the receiving end on three of the 13 occasions a team has scored five or more goals in a Premier League match this season, more than any other side.
Lambert has won just one of his eight managerial meetings with Southampton in all competitions (D4 L3), though it did come in his last visit to St Mary’s (3-2 in December 2013 with Aston Villa).
Peter Crouch has scored 12 goals in 53 Premier League games against sides he once played for in the competition, with four of those coming against Southampton for Stoke (33%).
Manolo Gabbiadini ended a run of 16 games without a goal in all competitions for Southampton last time out – he’s not scored in consecutive games for them since March 2017, when he scored in his first four appearances for the club.
Saido Berahino hasn’t scored in over two years now (February 27th 2016) – since then he’s played in 42 senior games for two clubs (Stoke and West Bromwich Albion), been on the pitch for 2324 minutes and failed to score with 55 shots despite having three of them from the penalty spot.
No player has scored more goals from outside the box in the Premier League this season than Xherdan Shaqiri (4, level with Philippe Coutinho and Kevin De Bruyne).
A NEW exhibition exploring the workings of Saints is opening up in the city.
‘We March On: Southampton Football Club, Then and Now’ will look at the team’s rich history and how it operates today to meet the challenges of Premier League football.
People will be able to find out more about what happens in the build up to a game, how the club is leading research into the prevention of player injury and which Southampton player introduced football to Brazil in the 19th century.
The exhibition will chart the highs and lows of the club and bring insight into it via the supporters, ex-players and backroom staff.
It opens on March 29 at SeaCity Museum, and runs until October 28.
The gallery will be open from 10am until 5pm daily.
Virgil van Dijk has told the BBC that he is still adjusting to Liverpool’s playing style and that he felt the need to “step up” his game immediately following his world-record move.
Van Dijk has made seven appearances for Liverpool since his £75 million transfer from Southampton at the start of January.
Fellow Liverpool centre-half Dejan Lovren recently admitted he was surprised by how just quickly he and Van Dijk had formed a working partnership.
“I am getting used to how we play,” Van Dijk said. "The intensity of our game is a lot higher than what I was used to.
“Every day here is tough. We work very hard, run a lot and there is a big difference. I needed to step up my game, especially in the beginning.”
Liverpool wanted to sign Van Dijk last summer but were forced to publicly apologise to Southampton amid allegations of an illegal approach.
The Netherlands international handed in a transfer request in an attempt to force a move away from St Mary’s, only to stay on the south coast until Liverpool and Southampton reached an agreement in December.
“People don’t know what really happened,” the 26-year-old added. "I kept my head down and kept playing. I was out for eight months and was just happy to play again.
“I just switched on again after the transfer window in the summer. I didn’t think about anything until I got a phone call from the Southampton board.”
Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold has welcomed the increased competition at right-back resulting from Nathaniel Clyne’s return from long-term injury.
Clyne, who is now back in full training, has not appeared this season because of a back injury, with Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez deputising for the England full-back.
“I think that competition for places has to be a big part of Liverpool Football Club,” Alexander-Arnold told the club’s website. "To have a real squad depth and to know that you need to fight for your position is healthy. If you have 11 positions and 11 players who know they are going to play week in, week out, then they could think: 'Well, look, I don’t really need to try that hard in training anymore.
"Whereas if you’ve got two or three players in each position who want to start and who can compete to start in each game, then every single day in training you’ve got people fighting for the spot.
“Of course, that’s really healthy for the team moving forward because every day we’re making each other better and with that the results get better, the performances get better and we improve as a team, so it’s a really fresh atmosphere at the minute. Healthy competition is always good.”
Glenn is ESPN FC’s Liverpool correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter: @GlennPrice94.