Southampton look to follow up their first win of the season with another victory as they welcome West Bromwich Albion to St Mary’s Stadium in one of two opening Super Sunday matches.
A win for the Saints could move them further away from the drop whilst West Brom will be looking to avoid finding themselves in the relegation zone over the international break.
Team News
Nathan Redmond is set to be available for Southampton after recovering from an ankle injury which had kept the midfielder out of the Saints’ last two matches.
Mohammed Salisu however is still absent as he continues to build up his match fitness after joining the club over summer.
West Brom are set to welcome back Ahmed Hegazi and Kamil Grosicki after the duo recovered from respective hamstring and back injuries, whilst Conor Gallagher is in the squad after being ineligible to face Chelsea last weekend.
Branislav Ivanovic and Filip Krovinovic face late fitness tests to determine whether they’re fit enough to feature in the match after having recently joined the club, although Krovinovic had been on loan to the Baggies in the Championship last season.
Kieran Gibbs remains absent as he serves the last of a three match ban and joins Kenneth Zohore (calf) on sidelines once again.
Stat Attack
- Southampton are unbeaten in five of last six league meetings against West Brom (W4, D1, L1).
- West Brom have won just two of eight previous Premier League trips to St Mary’s Stadium (W2, D2, L4), with Southampton keeping clean sheets during all four home wins over the Baggies.
- Both teams have conceded 17 combined goals between them in three league matches this season.
- No Premier League player has made more clearances than the 21 clearances produced by West Brom’s Kyle Bartley in three appearances so far this season, averaging seven clearances per game.
- Southampton have produced the joint lowest number of goals out of teams who have played three league games already this season, having produced just three goals alongside Newcastle, Fulham and Wolves coming into this weekend.
Prediction
Southampton will be relieved to finally get that win under their belt but they really need to push on to avoid that win being a fluke in their traditional slow start to new seasons, especially against a vulnerable West Brom defence.
Saying that, West Brom do possess a lot of attacking intent which served them well in the first-half against Chelsea last weekend before imploding in the second half to draw 3-3 at final whistle.
This therefore should be a good match between two attacking teams and I can see this game providing the weekend’s surprise result, if both clubs turn up and produce an all-out attacking performance.
Prediction: Southampton 2-2 WBA
Result: Southampton 2-0 WBA