Ross Stewart & Southampton appearing in England’s Championship play-off final has been thrown into doubt by Spygate. His goal in the semi-final win v Middlesbrough, evidences his continued good form since profiling him on this website 3 weeks ago. In this latest article below, we update his stats and review his Scotland World Cup prospects.
This article has been updated to include the above subsequently taken picture.
| Name | Ross Stewart |
| Age | 29 |
| Club | Southampton |
| Club’s division | English 2nd tier |
| Club’s division Opta rating | 81.2 (9th globally)* |
| Division benchmark: Scots top tier | 75.6 (39th globally)* |
| SMNT full caps | 2 |
| SMNT goals | 0 |
| Most recent SMNT cap | 2022 (away v Rep of Ireland) |
* Stats as at 15 May 2026
Ross Stewart latest form
As per Flashscore, since our 22 April article on Ross Stewart, he has played:
- 61 mins in the FA Cup v Manchester City
- 78 mins spanning league games v Ipswich Town & Preston North End
- 115 mins spanning 2 games in the play-off semi-final v Middlesbrough
Stewart in those games scored at Preston and in the play-off 2nd leg, 2-1 win v Boro. Hence his updated stats since returning from injury on 4 January are:
| Minutes played | 1096 |
| Goals | 10 |
| Assists | 2 |
| Minutes per goal | 109.6 |
| Minutes per goal/assist | 91.3 |
We previously reported that since his 4 January return from injury, Southampton hadn’t played him no more than 71 mins in 1 game, and no more than 112 mins in a week. Since then, Southampton played Stewart for 84 mins in the play-off 2nd leg v Boro, confident he has 11 days without a game before the Wembley final on 23 May.
Spygate
It remains to be seen what the outcome will be of the Spygate hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Potentially though, Southampton could be kicked out of the play offs, denying them a Wembley appearance. Reports state Middlesbrough are preparing their squad for the possibility of being directed instead of Southampton, to play versus Oli McBurnie & Hull City at Wembley. What does that mean from a Scotland perspective?
It is obviously better for any national team to have their players playing club football successfully at as high a standard as possible. Hence if Southampton are kicked out of the play-offs, Stewart won’t be playing in the English Premier League next season unless he transfers. Also if Saints are kicked out of the play offs, that would be 1 club game less for Stewart to play in and risk pre-World Cup injury. Regrettably, his injury record over the last 3 years has been terrible. Credit to Southampton though for the way they have so far successfully managed him in his latest injury comeback.
If Southampton do win the play-off final, that will deny McBurnie promotion to England’s top flight. Hence barring transfers, only 1 of them will go up without transferring clubs. Further, the same applies to Middlesbrough’s Tommy Conway. Conway though left the field injured & fighting back tears in the play-off versus Southampton, a man fearing that his World Cup dream for this year at least, is over.
Ross Stewart Scotland prospects update
Stewart’s prospects for Steve Clarke’s World Cup squad seem no worse than when they were 3 weeks ago. Quietly encouragingly, Stewart has remained injury-free since then, a big deal given his injury record of the last 3 years. Also, he has continued to score goals.
Injured players
Stewart also seems to have less competition for places. Fraser Hornby‘s injury woes have returned, further reducing Hornby’s outside chance of a call up. Hornby’s club Darmstadt have their final league game of the season on Sunday. Will Hornby regain fitness for then? He has missed the last 2 matches.
Conway’s injury consequently now makes him a major doubt. Reports state Clarke is scheduled to announce his next squad on Tuesday, 19 May. That is for the challenge game at Hampden on 30 May v Curaçao, who have Dick Advocaat re-appointed to the helm. Significantly, the FIFA deadline for final submission of the World Cup squad is 1st June.
Hence it remains to be seen if Conway will be selected. Given Conway played wide left for Middlesbrough & Scotland this year, it’s perhaps most likely that if Conway is replaced in the squad, it will be by a wide left player rather than a CF like Stewart. Clarke debuted Findlay Curtis in March off the bench versus Japan. Curtis has impressed further since then on loan from Rangers at Kilmarnock, with 3 goals in his last 3 games. Emilio Lawrence & Calvin Miller, thus seem further down Clarke’s left-wing pecking order than Curtis. Further, Kieron Bowie & Oli Burke like Conway, have to different degrees, experience playing wide as well as CF.
Other strikers in contention
Che Adams missed Torino’s recent game v Lennon Miller’s Udinese. Adams though returned to make the bench last weekend. While Adams didn’t play (this time versus Josh Doig & Sassuolo), Adams doesn’t seem a World Cup injury doubt.
Adams, Lyndon Dykes, Lawrence Shankland & George Hirst all remain likely ahead of Stewart, for the World Cup squad striker places. Only injury seems the likely threat to those 4 not being on the plane. Shankland has 1 & Adams has 2 club games remaining this season. Both could feature in big games. Specifically, Shankland plays in Hearts’ visit to Kieran Tierney’s Celtic, in the league title decider on Saturday. And Adams & Torino’s last game of the season is their derby versus Juventus.
Should an injury open a squad place up for a striker, there’s no guarantee Ross Stewart will get it. Impressively, McBurnie made it to the whoscored team of the season for England’s 2nd tier. Robbie Ure has scored regularly in Sweden this year, although not in his last 2 games.
Furthermore, Kieron Bowie’s current return of 3 goals in his last 8 Serie A games included 1 versus Juventus. Bowie has sufficiently impressed playing for a struggling Verona side, to be linked with transfer interest from Bologna among others. Also, Oli Burke scored on Sunday for Bundesliga side, Union Berlin.
Hence, Ross Stewart has lots of competition despite his goal threat. We’ll get a better idea on Tuesday as to how much his goals have forced his way into Steve Clarke’s thoughts.
