Coventry City will seek to move 11 points clear at the top of the Championship standings when they face Southampton in the early kickoff on Saturday.

The Sky Blues have been quite impressive during this season’s league campaign, and they extended their lead with an easy 3-0 victory over Preston North End in midweek.

Frank Lampard’s side has now won six league games in a row, and they will go into their meeting against Southampton confident of continuing their excellent home form.

They’ll face Southampton, who are also in contention for a top-six finish. The Saints are seventh in the table, just three points behind the play-off places entering into the weekend – a gap that has grown to six after Wrexham’s Friday night victory.

The Saints are concerned about Léo Scienza’s fitness, since he limped out in their previous 1-1 tie with West Brom, and it is unclear whether he will play against the Blues.

Both Coventry and Southampton have several significant absentees ahead of their match at the Coventry Building Society Arena, and we’ll provide updates on each of them.

Bobby Thomas

The Sky Blues centre-back has been a fixture in the starting lineup this season, having made 30 appearances across all competitions in 2025/26.

Thomas suffered a calf injury in the win over Stoke City, and despite playing the entire game, Lampard confirmed that the 25-year-old would miss the following three games, the first of which is a win over Preston on Wednesday evening.

“We won’t have Bobby for at least the next three games, so we’re getting a little thin there, but the newcomers have performed admirably.

“He suffered a calf injury against Stoke and will most likely be sidelined until the international break. Hopefully he’ll be back before the game, but if not, just after.”

Jack Rudoni

Rudoni has been a crucial player for Coventry in their excellent league campaign so far, contributing five goals and six assists this season.

Frank Lampard has issued an update on the midfielder, who will not play against Southampton this weekend due to a calf injury sustained during a win over Stoke City last weekend.Rudi has completed the same task as Bobby, and the timeframe is the same.”

Rudoni was previously linked with a move to Southampton, but the move did not materialise for various reasons, and Lampard will be hoping to keep the midfielder ahead of the summer transfer market.

Mads Roerlev

The Southampton full-back has only made nine appearances for the club since joining from Brentford, in what has been a tough season for him.

Roerslev underwent Achilles surgery, and Southampton manager Tonda Eckert warned that the former Brentford player could miss the remainder of the season while recovering.

Welington

The Brazilian has been in and out of Southampton’s squad for much of the season, but has not appeared in the previous four league games.

He also missed Southampton’s FA Cup win over Fulham recently, so it is doubtful that he will be pushed back into action following a muscle injury, despite Eckert previously saying that he was only a few weeks away from returning in February.

“Welly is going to still take a couple more weeks with a muscle injury, not the best [news] but hopefully it won’t take too long.”

Jay Robinson

Robinson has impressed with his efforts for the Saints this season, however he has missed the previous seven matches due to injury.

Tonda Eckert had said that the winger was close to returning, but his continuing absence casts question on his availability for Saturday’s game against Coventry.

Alex McCarthy

The experienced shot-stopper is another Southampton player who has missed the last seven games, and it is unclear whether he will return for the encounter against the Sky Blues.

McCarthy had been Southampton’s second-choice goalkeeper for much of the 2025/26 season, however he has lately been out due to wrist surgery.