After a Boxing Day full of shocks and goals, this festive round climaxes at St Marys as Southampton host West Ham United.
Southampton enter this in fine form looking to move six points clear of relegation zone whilst West Ham can move into top ten with victory.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesSouthampton will be without midfielder, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg as he serves an one match ban after collecting five yellow cards.
Ryan Bertrand (back) won’t be risked here whilst Cedric Soares is a doubt with a calf strain.
West Ham could have forwards, Marko Arnautovic (thigh) and Lucas Perez (foot) available after spending recent weeks on sidelines.
Javier Hernandez however is set to be out with back and hamstring injuries, alongside Fabian Balbuena who suffered a knee injury at weekend.
Winston Reid (knee) is expected to be ready for a first team return from a knee injury at end of January.
Carlos Sanchez (knee) and Andriy Yarmolenko (Achilles) both remain out until late April whilst Jack Wilshire (ankle), Ryan Fredericks (shin) and Manuel Lanzini (knee) are all not expected to return until some point during 2019.
Form
Southampton are currently on a two match unbeaten run, having drawn two of previous five league games. They however haven’t kept a clean sheet in last eight since holding Bournemouth and Newcastle to goalless draws at end of October.
At home, the Saints have taken seven points from last six outings and scored in each of last three.
West Ham’s four match unbeaten run was ended by Watford at weekend, having scored three times in three of those four games.
The Hammers are also on a four game unbeaten away run with eight points from an available 12.
Stat Attack
- Southampton have won three of last five meetings (W3, L2).
- Since both returned to Premier League in 2012-13 season, Southampton have lost just one home meeting in six against West Ham (W2, D3, L1).
- West Ham have picked up yellow cards in just two of last five matches with four of six yellow cards coming in first half.
- Charlie Austin of Southampton have scored in two of last three with both goals coming in final minutes of matches against Tottenham and Arsenal.
- Southampton’s Wesley Hoedt has two own goals, more than any other Premier League player this season.
Prediction
Since Ralph Hasenhuttl took over at start of month, Southampton have shown excellent attacking ability but defence is still suspect at times, which West Ham should hopefully exploit.
In end, I can see a decent draw because both sides are brilliant at attack but aren’t solid enough at back to keep a clean sheet here.
Prediction: Southampton 1-1 West Ham United
Jake predicts: Southampton 2-0 West Ham United
Result: Southampton 1-2 West Ham United
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