Southampton welcome Nottingham Forest to St Mary’s Stadium in a relegation six-pointer showdown.
Victory could see Southampton move off the foot of the table but would also need West Ham and Wolves to both lose elsewhere, if the Saints are to move out of the relegation zone.
Victory or at least one point would meanwhile see Forest climb out of the relegation zone if West Ham lose at Leeds.
Team News
Samuel Edozie will be available for Southampton despite suffering cramp during their 2-1 defeat at Fulham on New Year’s Eve.
Alex McCarthy (ankle) again is a doubt but Valentino Livramento (knee), Juan Larios (adductor) and Theo Walcott (calf) remain absent.
Forest will be without Jesse Lingard for a month after a hamstring injury ruled him out of their 1-1 draw against Chelsea on New Year’s Day.
Cheikhou Kouyate (hamstring), Giulian Biancone (knee), Moussa Niakhate (thigh) and Omar Richards (leg) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Southampton have won just two of ten previous Premier League meetings against Forest (W2, D3, L5).
- Forest are unbeaten in their five previous Premier League visits to Southampton (W3, D2), although this is their first top-flight meeting at St Mary’s Stadium.
- Both teams have scored in five of their last six Premier League meetings – except for a 1-0 home win for Forest in January 1996.
- Only one of James Ward-Prowse’s three goals for Southampton this season were scored from a free-kick.
- Forest have scored just one away goal on their league travels this season (D2, L6).
Prediction
Sat bottom of the top-flight with an one-point deficit to Forest, this match is already a must-win for Southampton who continue to be wasteful from open play – which was apparent in a grittier display at Fulham amidst poor marking of both goals.
Gavin Bazunu meanwhile produced great saves to keep the Saints’ losing margin down so he will need to be at his best again, albeit aided by better defending if Southampton are to avoid another defeat.
Forest meanwhile weathered the threat posed by Chelsea surprisingly well because their first-half counterattacks caused issues, yet they bravely took the fight to the Blues in the second-half to snatch a deserved draw with some strong defending.
Now if the visitors can bring that second-half quality into this game and really rattle Southampton’s defence, they could well get some away goals and a crucial win on the board but I do think that this could be close if the Saints can sort out their end product.
Prediction: Southampton 1-1 Nottingham Forest
Result: Southampton 0-1 Nottingham Forest
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