Southampton defender Megan Collett knows better than most how important this weekend’s south coast derby is.
A local girl, her entire family are Saints fans – and they’ll be packing out the stands for the match against Portsmouth on Saturday evening.
“I’m so excited,” she tells SheKicks.net. “I think I’ve got about 30 or 40 tickets so far. I’ve got a massive family – most of them will be down watching and the ones that can’t come and watch will be watching it live on YouTube!”
It all makes for a huge occasion – not least because one win could make a huge difference in the WSL2 table.
Saints are currently seventh, on 15 points – but only four points away from Bristol City in third place.
Portsmouth, meanwhile, sit just outside the danger zone, in 11th place, on ten points – but with only one fewer win than Southampton this season.
In the reverse fixture, at Fratton Park in October, Saints came away the victors, hitting back from 2-0 down to win 5-2.
Aimee Palmer: Southampton can get a result anywhere
Team-mate Aimee Palmer has helped both Manchester United and Bristol City to promotion to the top flight previously, so she’s well aware of how tough a task it can be.
“Every year the WSL2 gets so much harder. You look back three, four years ago, you kind of know where everyone’s going to finish, it’s quite predictable.
“Now you go into every game, we look at the fixtures of the coming week and we don’t know who’s going to win. Every single game that’s played, any team can win, which obviously makes it a lot more enjoyable for the fans and for us as well.
“It is very tight, and I think that’s one of the things that’s helping us get through – even though we’re sitting mid-table right now, if we get a few results on the bounce, we’ll be right up there.
“It’s massive for us as a team to just remember that and keep on pushing through, knowing that you can get a result anywhere.”
Palmer: Every day is nice after time out injured
Palmer had a difficult 2025 for a variety of reasons on and off the field, and took to social media in September to encourage people to talk about their problems and seek help where needed.
“I do find it quite easy to speak about things and be open,” she explains, “so I thought it’s a great chance for me to use my platform and try and actually get the word out.
“I think a lot of people see us as footballers, and just like robots, we go and get it done and everyone thinks it’s like the nicest lifestyle, but there are things that go on behind closed doors that maybe people that aren’t involved in football aren’t aware of. It was just a good chance for me to use my platforms.
“Even people not involved in sport, not involved in football, I just wanted everyone to be aware that it’s okay not to be okay, I guess, and try and spread that message of speak to people, speak out. I had quite a few messages from it, which was really nice. It’s something that I’ll hopefully continue doing.”
Having to manage a stress fracture and undergoing surgery in the close season means that she’s particularly keen to get off to a good start in 2026.
“Once you’ve been through that kind of hard work, it makes every day nice, even the bad days in training! We do this thing called murder ball where the manager throws in about 50 balls at the same time – you get a bit of head loss, but then you look and think where you were six months ago and you just take everything within your stride!”
Collett: We set ourselves high standards
Both admit that 2024-25 was a disappointing season all round – but they’re hopeful that this season will continue on a positive trajectory.
“We set ourselves such high standards as a group and as a team, and I think we didn’t ultimately reach that last season,” says Collett.
“We’ve learned lessons and the main aim this year is to get as high as we can – hopefully finish near those promotional spots. We’ve had some good results and we’ve had some results that we are very disappointed with.
“It’s no excuse, but we are a new group, we’re a young group, and we just need to keep taking every game as it comes, learning, and see where we are at the end of the season.”
