Southampton welcome Crystal Palace to St Mary’s Stadium in a must-win clash in the race for Premier League survival.
Victory would lift Southampton off the foot of the table for at least a few hours, whilst a win would see Palace stay 12th in the table.
Team News
Romeo Lavia is unlikely to feature for Southampton after he suffered a hamstring injury during their defeat to Manchester City last weekend, although he has resumed training in recent days.
Mislav Orsic is ruled out after he suffered a hip injury during training this week.
Mohamed Salisu (hip), Che Adams (calf), Valentino Livramento (muscle) and Juan Larios (adductor) remain absent.
Palace could be without Odsonne Edouard after he was substituted during their comeback win at Leeds with an ankle injury.
Chris Richards (unspecified) and Nathan Ferguson (fitness) could return if they’re both declared match fit but Vicente Guaita (calf) and Wilfried Zaha (groin) both remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Southampton face Palace in a 3pm kick-off at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday 15 April, untelevised in UK.
Stat Attack
- Southampton have won just one of their last five league meetings against Crystal Palace (W1, D1, L3).
- Crystal Palace are unbeaten in four of their last five league visits to Southampton (W2, D2, L1).
- Odsonne Edouard has scored in each of Palace’s two matches against Southampton this season in all competitions (W1, L1).
- Each of Southampton’s last four goals at home have been scored after half-time.
- Jordan Ayew has been involved in three of Palace’s last seven goals (W2), having produced two goals and one assist in the Eagles’ last two matches.
Prediction
Sat four points from safety which could become larger depending upon results elsewhere on Saturday, Southampton are definitely hitting squeaky bum time because they must start winning games like these if want to stay up.
Although last weekend’s defeat against Man City was a certain inveitability, Ruben Selles’ Saints must take the positives of that defeat because they defended well in the first-half against tough opposition, despite being hammered in the second-half which exposed their fragilities.
I also would like to see them execute their chances more clinically because they looked decent when pushed forward on the attack, yet just lacked that end product to convert their shots on too many occasions.
Palace meanwhile were a game of two halves at Leeds because they were defensively gutsy in the first half under pressure, yet ruthless after half-time with a huge increase in pace and attacking intensity complete with superb finishing and passes.
On that note, Southampton better hope that the defensively gutsy Palace roll up in town and can clinically break them down, otherwise I can see another heavy defeat coming if the Eagles play like they did in the second half to humiliate Leeds.
Prediction: Southampton 1-3 Crystal Palace
Result: Southampton 0-2 Crystal Palace
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