Victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City came before last Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home to Derby County on the south coast, while tonight’s opponents have won one of their last five - a 2-1 success away to Wolves back at the end of September, and currently sit bottom of the table ahead of this evening's game.
Warren O’Hora was on the scoresheet for Rusk's men last time out, cancelling out Jason Knight's opening goal on the hour mark. But Knight got his and Derby's second 16 minutes from time to keep the Rams top of the table.
Southampton are new to the division this season having won promotion to Premier League 2 Division 1 at the end of the previous campaign, with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle United in the play-off final ending their year on a high.
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Our last fixture…
Albion 1
O'Hora (62)
Everton 2
Knight (60, 74)
Albion line-up: Keto; Yapi (A.Davies 66), O'Hora, Roberts, Cochrane (C); Baluta, Jenks; Cashman (Spong 84), Richards, Gwargis; Radulovic (Leahy 63).
Subs not used: McGill (GK), Tsoungui.
Not at the game?
Fans can follow updates of tonight’s game on the Match Centre and can also keep up to date with all the key incidents over on the club’s official Twitter account - there will also be a live stream of the match on Southampton's YouTube channel.
A full match report and reaction will be available shortly after the final whistle, both on here and across all of our social channels.