Southampton face one of the biggest home matches in their history when they host Italian giants Inter Milan in the Europa League at St Mary’s on Thursday night.

Following a 1-0 defeat at the San Siro a fortnight ago, Claude Puel will know that his side need to pick up a positive result on the south coast if they are to give themselves a good chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Even though Inter have endured a miserable season to date – they are managerless, 12th in the Serie A standings, have lost two of their opening three Europa League group matches and are unable to name summer signings such as Joao Mario in their matchday squad for European fixtures because of Financial Fair Play regulations – they still have some huge threats in their side.

We take a look at four Inter players Southampton must watch out for on Thursday…

SAMIR HANDANOVIC

Some Southampton players will still be having nightmares about the Slovenia international goalkeeper, who pulled off save after save at the San Siro a fortnight ago to deservedly be named Man of the Match in a 1-0 win for the hosts.

Claude Puel and his team will now know what a good stopper they are up against, and that they need to be far more accurate and clinical at St Mary’s than they were in Milan.

ANTONIO CANDREVA

Even though Inter had less possession and only one shot on target at the San Siro, Candreva showed that he had the ability to take a chance when it fell to him by scoring the solitary strike.

His fine finish into the roof of Fraser Forster’s net was his first goal since joining the club from Lazio in the summer and Saints defenders will certainly be watching him more closely at St Mary’s.

MAURO ICARDI

The Inter captain was unusually quiet in the first match against Saints, but the 23-year-old’s goalscoring record during his time with the Italian giants shows he's never far away from a goal.

The 23-year-old has netted 60 goals in just 119 appearances in all competitions for his current side, including eight in 11 Serie A outings this term, but his shaky relationship with the Ultras following comments made in his book appears to have affected his form in recent matches.

IVAN PERISIC

The Croatian was one of the stand out players at Euro 2016 before his country was eliminated, so it would have been a mystery to some at Southampton that he started on the substitutes’ bench a fortnight ago.

However, with De Boer sacked on Tuesday and Stefano Vecchi taking temporary charge, he could well be brought into the starting line-up as Inter look to get a win that would boost their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition.