The final Premier League weekend before the last international break of 2021 begins with a Friday Night Football this week as two sides who are nowhere near as high up the table as they would want to be meet at St Mary’s Stadium where Southampton take on Aston Villa.
It is a little early in the season to be calling this a six pointer or anything like that but it is certainly a match they would both like to win to allow themselves a pressure alleviator heading into the two weeks off from Premier League action.
Where to watch
This match will be shown live on the Friday Night Football programme which will be available on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels. The show begins at 7.30pm and kick off is at 8pm.
Southampton
It was a pretty ordinary start to the season for Southampton when you consider that it took them until their eighth game to pick up their first win of the campaign. They did draw four of their first seven games though, one of which was a backs against the wall effort away to Manchester City so maybe they need some slack being cut in their direction. They have now won two of their last three and drawn the other so it looks like they are hitting some good form.
The other reason why they deserve some slack is because they lost some key players quite late in the close season and that always takes time to get over. They haven’t had the funds to go and do wholesale shopping either but certainly in recent weeks there have been signs that Ralph Hasenhuttl has got his philosophy installed into his new charges and Southampton look much better for it. They would like a few more goals moving forward but they will be happy with where they are going at present.
Aston Villa
The season began with three wins from their opening six matches for Aston Villa but they have lost their last four matches and look like they have come right off the rails recently. They haven’t just lost those four matches but they have conceded 12 goals in the process and that certainly is something that will need to change pretty soon if they don’t want to be involved in a relegation fight. There was a concern going into the season that they might miss Jack Grealish and right now they are doing nothing to suggest that isn’t the case.
The positive in this winless run for Villa is that they have scored goals in every match so if they can tighten up defensively then they have enough goals in them to start picking up results once again. In fact, only once in their 10 matches have Villa not scored this season so their problems certainly don’t exist in the scoring department so it really is all about finding that defensive formula which works and then building on it in order to get back on track.
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Team News
Southampton are buoyed by the return of on loan Chelsea forward Armando Broja who missed the victory over Watford last week with an ankle injury. His recovery means that Jack Stephens is the only man missing for the Saints in this match.
There will be no return to Southampton for Danny Ings as the Aston Villa forward is on the sidelines with injury. He will be joined there by Bertrand Traore and Douglas Luiz. Ezri Konsa is suspended after his red card last week so Tyrone Mings is likely to be recalled.
Betting
I’m not sure whether I trust Southampton long term but I certainly have little faith in Villa from a defensive standpoint at present and both this season and last if Villa concede a goal they generally don’t win. That was the case for a number of their wins last season and their three wins this season have all come without conceding. The seven times they have conceded a goal they have failed to win so if Southampton find the net here there looks to be a good chance the Saints will win.
I say that because although there is some doom and gloom around the start Southampton have made to the season, they have kept four clean sheets in their last seven matches which includes keeping West Ham and Manchester City out and have only conceded four goals in five home games this term. Keeping the ball out of their net isn’t so much the problem as scoring them but with Broja back and Villa missing their best defender, and looking vulnerable defensively anyway, I think if there is a winner in this one it can be the home side.
Tips
Back Southampton to beat Aston Villa for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with William Hill
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