Southampton meet Leicester at St Mary’s Stadium in a blockbuster Sky Bet Championship clash.
Victory would see Russell Martins’ Saints climb above their visitors into second in the table, whereas Enzo Maresca’s Foxes can go top with a win.
Team News
Jan Bednarek is Southampton’s only doubt after he suffered a minor injury during Poland’s 2-0 loss to Albania.
Leicester could welcome Conor Coady back into contention after he missed their opening seven matches of the season with a foot injury.
New signing, Tom Cannon won’t be involved as he recovers from a knock.
Alex Smithies (unspecified) and Dennis Praet (back) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Southampton host Leicester at St Mary’s Stadium on Friday 15 September in a 8pm BST kick-off, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Southampton are unbeaten in four of their last five league meetings against Leicester (W2, D2. L1).
- Leicester have lost just one of their last six visits to Southampton (W3, D2, L1).
- This match is the first second-tier meeting between Southampton and Leicester since January 2012, which the Foxes won 2-0 at St Mary’s Stadium.
- Adam Armstrong has scored three goals in two appearances at home for Southampton this season.
- Leicester have scored twice in three of their four away matches in all competitions this season, aside from a 1-0 win at Huddersfield on the second matchweek of Championship campaign.
Prediction
Having seen their strong start come to a shattering halt in a disastrous performance at Sunderland a fortnight ago with poor defending to concede five goals, Southampton must put that loss behind them and return to their strong attacking ways.
Russell Martin however does need to address the Saints’ defensive issues with no clean sheets in all competitions, so you could argue that hammering had been coming from a defensive perspective but they need to show more solidness or teams will look to get at their defence aggressively.
Following their narrow defeat against Hull before the international break where their end product simply lacked much luck, Leiester simply need to reset and play their usual game and goals will hopefully return on the South Coast.
Goals therefore feel guaranteed but if Southampton’s defence haven’t tightened up, I have to go for Leicester to edge this battle between two of last season’s relegated teams.
Prediction: Southampton 1-2 Leicester
Result: Southampton 1-4 Leicester
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