Southampton welcome Aston Villa to St Mary’s Stadium in Saturday Night Football from the Premier League.
Both teams enter this match locked on 29 points apiece and should Arsenal lose to Manchester United at teatime, victory will send either team up to eighth.
Team News
Oriol Romeu could return from a calf injury for Southampton if he passes a late fitness test.
Ryan Bertrand will also return after serving an one match ban in midweek but Kyle Walker-Peters (quad) joins Jannik Vestergaard, Will Smallbone (both knee), Moussa Djenepo, Nathan Tella (both muscle), Mohamed Salisu (muscle) and Michael Obafemi (undisclosed) remain sidelined.
Aston Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report as Wesley (knee) and Kortney Hause (foot) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Southampton are unbeaten in last eight league meetings against Aston Villa (W5, D3).
- Villa have won one of last five league trips to St Mary’s Stadium (W1, D1, L3).
- Three of Southampton’s last six goals in this fixture have come from midfield with James Ward-Prowse scoring twice and Stuart Armstrong once, whilst two goals came from strikers (Danny Ings & Shane Long) and one from defence (Jannik Vestergaard).
- All six of Jack Grealish’s league goals this season have come on his right-foot.
- No Southampton player has made more interceptions this season than Jan Bednarek, who has made 35 interceptions in 19 league appearances.
Prediction
Southampton have defensive work to do if want a result because they were horribly exposed when trying to play out from the back in midweek, yet were able to threaten well when got their opportunities on goal.
Villa meanwhile were excellent in the first-half at Burnley on Wednesday evening but a mixture of poor finishing coupled with a horrendous second-half defensive display cost them down their right because Sean Dyche’s Clarets just ripped them apart to come from behind for the win.
Either way, both teams clearly will be looking to improve their defences and coupled with the lights of St Mary’s Stadium, I am expecting a cracker here but if Villa can tighten up then they should take a strong win here despite their poor record in recent meetings.
Prediction: Southampton 1-3 Aston Villa
Result: Southampton 0-1 Aston Villa