Srikers What Strikers ! is the cry at St Mary's this week as injuries and call ups decimate the Saints squad.

To say Saints will lack firepower up front is an understatement as Lee barnard looks highly unlikely to play against Tranmere after incidents last weekend leaving Rickie Lambert as the only fully fit striker and there are many who wouldnt agree with that statement with the man dubbed SuperRickieLambert struggling for both form and fitness with his four goals this season coming from 3 penalties and a free kick against Orient where the ball was deflected so much some would say it should be an own goal.

So what options will Nigel Adkins go for ? with Ryan Doble in the full Welsh squad he could either shoe horn in a midfielder up front or go to a 4-5-1 formation, if Morgan Scheiderlin had not been away with the French U21 side this may have been the preferred formation, however his absence has narrowed down options even further.

I would expect Richard Chaplow to replace Scheiderlin in a four man midfield and then its a case of who he pushes up front, it could be one of four, Lallana, Guly, Puncheon or Chamberlain, if the manager doesnt want to disrupt the team too much and personally i would advocate this, then its a choice between Chamberlain or Guly, I would go for the latter perhaps playing deep in the hole behind Lambert.

But there could be a surprise or two, Richardson and Connolly are back in full training and Adkins has hinted that one or both could take part, Richardson is fit with his shoulder allowing him to train on the fitness side, he just hasnt been able to take part in contact sessions, so could he be slotted in at right back with Butterfield reprising his emergency striker role he has played at Palace.

With regard to Connolly, I wouldnt expect to see him start but he could be on the bench as an insurance policy.

The outside option would be that Adkins pulls in a late loan signing, 

Given the lack of information that comes out of St Mary's these days both could well figure, Lallana was expected to be out for at least a further three weeks when he suddenly reappeared against Sheffield Wednesday so Adkins does like to keep the opposition thinking when it comes to injuries.

Other than this Saints have to beat Tranmere and beat them well to show the rest of the league that our crisis days are over, on the field at least, its important that we now keep winning at home as well as picking up points on the road.and we need to win all of our three home games in October if we are to end the month back in the promotion frame.

Rovers last road trip was a 1-0 win at Bristol Rovers and they followed that up with a home point against leaders Brighton last week, but their form book has been up and down, good results often followed by poor ones, this two game run without a defeat is as good as it has got all season for them, we have to make sure that this form continues. 

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