Wrexham get underway in the Championship this weekend taking on Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
Wrexham kickstart their Championship campaign with a tough trip away to Southampton on Saturday in a televised 12:30pm kick-off.
It’s arguably the hardest game of the season for Phil Parkinson’s side going up against a relegated Southampton who’ve managed to retain the bulk of their quality despite a disastrous Premier League campaign last time round.
The Saints have a new manager in Will Still and he’ll be looking to make an immediate impression in the second tier much like Wrexham who have enjoyed a solid transfer window so far.
This week, Wrexham have signed Kieffer Moore taking the summer signings tally up to eight after the likes of Conor Coady and Josh Windass were signed previously, and there could yet be more arriving at the Racecourse with ongoing rumours that Wrexham want to sign Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich Town.
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EFL expert shares Southampton vs Wrexham score prediction
Wrexham’s pre-season results have been rather mixed, if not disappointing overall. Parkinson watched his side fall to two defeats against FC Groningen last Saturday, after winning one and losing two during the pre-season tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Southampton meanwhile have won two of their six friendlies this summer, drawing three including a 2-2 draw against south coast rivals Brighton last week.
And speaking on the Championship Check-in podcast ahead of the weekend, EFL expert and former player Sam Parkin has predicted an easy home win for the Saints on the opening day of the season.
He says: “I think it’s the same conversation we probably had two years ago, or certainly my sentiment from two years ago when I just didn’t know what Southampton were going to look like in terms of which players are going to remain, who they’re going to get through the door.
“I think with [Tyler] Dibling, [Mateus] Fernandes, the speculation around them, but one thing’s for sure, they’re going to have good Championship players. They’re going to have potency at the top end of the pitch with what they’ve got right now.
“But I think Wrexham might score. Might be kind of a long throw, you know, and the elation of a packed away end. We might see that.”
Parkin predicts a 3-1 Southampton win.
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Wrexham’s last three opening day results
This season will be a bit different for Parkinson and Wrexham, who start away from home in the opening game for the first time in the last three seasons. The last three seasons have ended in promotion for the Dragons and they have won two of their opening day games.
The first against Eastleigh was a 2-1 win in the National League. The following season Wrexham lost 5-3 at home to Milton Keynes Dons in League Two, before then beating promotion rivals Wycombe Wanderers in a 3-2 win at the Racecourse in August last year.
For Wrexham, a win on the opening day won’t necessarily predict the fate of their eventual campaign. Many expect the Dragons to beat the drop this season and their recent flurry of signings suggests that they have a very strong chance to do so, but a poor performance in defeat against Southampton could set the early alarm bells ringing and potentially foretell a tough start to the season.
The opposite, however, could give the club a kick of momentum and see Wrexham make an unprecedentedly strong start to the new campaign.