Preview: Millwall vs Southampton

Saints return to League Cup action tonight, as they travel to South London to face Ian Holloway's Millwall side.

Following a draw and a defeat in the league, Saints are presented with the perfect opportunity to pick up their first competitive win of the season when they take on the Championship side, although they'll have to be wary of their hosts, who have started the season strongly.

Their last visit to The New Den saw Southampton run-out as 3-2 winners after late drama which saw two late penalties hand Rickie Lambert a hat-trick and man of the match performance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Southampton will be hoping for an easier ride this time around, with Ian Holloway expected to rotate his squad to give a mixture of youth and fringe players the opportunity to impress him in the cup competitions this season.

His counterpart Ronald Koeman, however, has said that he is taking the competition seriously this season, a view supported by Shane Long, who watched on as former club Hull City went all the way to the FA Cup Final last season.

Speaking ahead of the cup clash, Long said:

"A good cup run would be good for a club like Southampton, because I saw what happened to Hull last year. Getting to the FA Cup Final was one of the biggest achievements in the club's history, so hopefully we can add to the records here at Southampton and go far in a cup competition."

Whilst Koeman has promised to take the competition seriously, he is expected to make a few changes to the side that faced West Bromwich Albion for a combination of fitness reasons, and in order to give certain players an opportunity to get some minutes under their belt.

Amongst those expected to start are club captain Kelvin Davis, loan signing Saphir Taïder and new boy Shane Long.

Ex-Saints midfielder Richard Chaplow is expected to line up against his old side for Millwall, as Koeman looks to pursue success in this year's competition.