Southampton vs Fulham: 5 Key Battles That Will Decide The Game

2. Adam Lallana vs Sascha Riether

Lallana has been on dazzling form so far this season, and if he keeps up this level of performance, Roy Hodgson may recall Lallana for the upcoming friendlies against Germany and Chile in November. He has already scored twice so far this campaign, and was unfairly ruled out of a third on the opening day at West Brom. His creativity has been exceptional, and has often looked like our main hope of scoring. 67% of his shots so far have been on target and has been passing at an accuracy of 74%. He also gets fouled on average twice a game so far this season, which just shows how clubs have Lallana down as a real danger who must be stopped. Going up against Lallana is Sascha Riether, who looked on fine form in Monday's game, putting through that sublime ball for Kasami's wonder goal, and his second assist of the campaign. He has completed nearly 300 passes, at a completion percentage of 85% of an average of 18m per pass. However, one flaw I've noticed in his game, is his reluctance going head-to-head. He is great at playing the passing game, but he has only put in 5 tackles in his 8 starts so far this season and only gone up in the air 9 times, 5 of which he has lost the duel with his counterpart. While you may be able to afford to have this reluctance against teams with little wide presence like Stoke and Palace, but not putting in a tackle when going up against Lallana, then Nani, Moses and Dyer in the upcoming fixtures, may prove costly.