Southampton will look to shake off a December slump and take much-needed points tomorrow, as they face Middlesbrough at St. Mary’s.
Southampton enter the weekend in dire need of a win to kickstart their form following a rough start to the month of December. Last week, the Saints dropped an embarrassing 3-0 to Crystal Palace away and crashed out of the Europa League on a 1-1 draw with Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
The last month of the calendar year has historically been unkind to the club, but with Saints sitting in 12th place in a packed lower half, the stakes are high. Any positive result will be good to carry the club up a position in the League table, but a loss could drop them to 13th and leave them only two games clear of relegation.
For Boro, in their first year back in the Premiership after a 7 year absence, the stakes are just as high if not higher. The Smoggies currently sit 16th, on 15 points, and could leapfrog Southampton with a win at St. Mary’s tomorrow.
They’ll have to do so without the services of some of their more potent attackers, however. Álvaro Negredo and former Saint Gastón Ramírez are both listed as doubtful for the weekend, as is Jordan Rhodes. Left-back George Friend is also listed as out as he continues to recover from an earlier injury.
Southampton were dealt a massive blow earlier this week as leading scorer Charlie Austin suffered a dislocated shoulder during the match versus Hapoel; he remains out for an indeterminate period and will not feature tomorrow. Record signing Sofiane Boufal and striker Jay Rodriguez are both expected to be available following illness, as is Dusan Tadic as he recovers from a broken nose.
This is the first meeting between the two clubs since 2012, and the first in the Premier League in over a decade; Boro won the latest meeting 2-1, though Southampton took the better of them in the Premiership on a 3-1 drubbing at the Riverside Stadium in 2005. The Saints hold the overall advantage in all-time fixtures, winning 23 of 55.
Speaking on the match in pregame remarks, Claude Puel acknowledged the disappointment in the dressing room following Saints’ Europa crash-out but expressed confidence that his side could bounce back.
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“Of course there is big disappointment at the moment, it’s normal because it was a strong investment for all of the club,” Puel told the media. But he stressed the importance of putting the past behind the club and focusing on the Premier League and matches to come.
“Now we need to have good concentration about this game and Premier League games,” the 55 year old Frenchman said.
“We want to come back into the top of the table.”
Preston’s Pick
I haven’t seen Boro play yet this year, but I was surprised at the moves they made this summer. This is clearly a side that is going to pull out all the stops to stay up and Aitor Karanka has done a decent job of achieving that goal so far; obviously a win here would be very good for that end as it would move them further from the dreaded relegation zone.
For the Saints, relegation is a not-so-distant memory but the club and the fans would surely like to keep it that way. Playing like we have been, though, and the bottom of the table will start to creep up. Losing Austin hurts but provides a challenge for someone else to step up and be our goals, because let’s face it, we can’t expect success when one man does it all. Call me an optimist but tomorrow I expect young Josh Sims to finally put it all together and get us three points in the bag.
Southampton 1-0 Middlesbrough