Lincoln City will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in the EFL Championship this weekend as the Imps face Southampton in the early kick off on Saturday at the ProAmpac Stadium.
That unbeaten run started in the Carabao Cup with a 4-1 win over Blackpool before Ben House scored the only goal of the game against Bolton Wanderers last weekend.
It then continued as Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw’s side faced off against their third Lancashire outfit of the season as they were held to a 0-0 draw by ten-man Blackburn Rovers.
Opponents- Southampton
However, the clashes against sides from North-West now come to an end as they welcome 18th placed Southampton.
That is partly due to the fact that the Saints were deducted four points before the season began due to breaches of EFL regulations after the club were found guilty of “observing another club’s training sessions, within 72 hours of a match.”
Despite this, the Saints have looked strong so far, after their first game blip which saw Watford beat them 2-1.
Since then, Southampton have gone on to remain unbeaten in the league, most recently drawing in their match against Birmingham City away from home 1-1.
New permanent signing, Cyle Larin helped his side to a 5-1 win against Millwall, where his brace took his tally for the season up to four.
He was also joined in the window by their new number one Daniel Peretz from Bayern Munich, Lewis Dobbin from Aston Villa and re-signing their former captain James Ward-Prowse from West Ham United.
Team News
The Imps also made further moves in the market this week as new signing Daniel Oyegoke and loanee Chiedozie Ogbene are available for tomorrow’s fixture.
However, central defender Adam Jackson won’t be available after being left out of the sides 25-man squad before agreeing to mutually terminate his deal after six years as an Imp.
Tom Hamer and Ben House are still unlikely to feature for the Imps in this match, Chris Cohen expanded on this when he said: “They are both close.
“Ben House’s scan came back really positively but its the choice of whether he plays or comes of the bench.
“Tom Hamer is a little further away, but we are talking about days rather than weeks and weeks and weeks.”
Head-to-head
This weekend’s clash will be the first league meeting between Lincoln City and Southampton since March 1961, when the Saints ran out 3-0 winners in the second tier.
In all competitions, Southampton have lost just one of their last 16 meetings against the Imps, recording ten wins and five draws during that period, with their only defeat coming in a 3-2 loss in December 1960.
Lincoln have also been defensively strong in 2026, keeping more clean sheets than any other side across England’s top four tiers with 13, including shutouts in each of their last two Championship games.
Southampton, meanwhile, have both scored and conceded in each of their last eight league matches, netting 19 goals while shipping 11, their longest such run since November 2009.
Played for both
Gordon Hobson is the most notable player in Imps history to have worn both red and white stripes for either side.
The forward spent much of his career with Lincoln City over the course of two different stints with the club, making over 330 appearances and scoring 96 goals for the Imps.
Hobson would join Southampton in 1986, before leaving to re-join the Imps two years later in 1988.
He also has company from Ian Pearce who joined the Imps in 2009 just a year after a loan spell with Southampton, alongside Jake Hesketh who joined on loan from the Saints in 2019.