Sparta boss Scasny: Rosicky's a big miss for us at Saints

Playmaker Rosicky, who ended a ten-year spell with the Gunners this summer to return to his homeland and the club where his career began, is not ready to play against Saints due to a lack of match fitness after spending the last few months recovering from a thigh injury he suffered at Euro 2016.

Sparta chief Scasny accepts that is not ideal to be missing such a key man, especially considering his knowledge of the game in England.

“It is a shame we are losing him as he knows the Premier League inside out,” the Sparta manager, pictured, said.

“I was talking to Tomas about the situation and he said he knows the players but the systems will have changed since Koeman left.

“He can hardly help with the way they play nowadays. He has a high respect in the squad and I consulted him [about Saints].”

Prague have not won in England since 1983, but Scasny will hope to again inspire victory and end that run.

The Czech boss was the goalscorer on that past occasion, in a 1-0 win at Watford, and now manages a team that has failed to defeat English opposition during its past 14 attempts.

Defensive midfielder Lukas Vacha is aiming for Sparta, who are currently in second place in the Czech top flight, to catch Claude Puel’s side on the break, but knows that Saints pose a big threat.

“Southampton are a strong side,” he stated. “We are aware they suit their formation. We hope that that we have quick breaks and have to watch the set pieces.

“We are known as having experience Europa League players, but we know that Southampton will have hard players.

“We are well prepared for them, we have watched videos. They are very good in attack as they showed against Arsenal in their last match.”

He continued: “We look forward to this game. It is the first game in the competition for us. We have been told it is sold out and we are looking forward to it.”

“It is not the first time we play in front of big crowd but we will concentrate on our own game.”