GAME DAY: Southampton vs. Crystal Palace Preview – 04/05/17
Today Southampton and Crystal Palace will take to the pitch at St. Mary’s Stadium with both teams desperate for a win. Kick-off is 2:45 PM Eastern.
With Southampton’s mid-table rivals all getting positive results in recent fixtures, the Saints have slipped to 13th going into the tie against Sam Allardyce’s side, but a win could take them as high at ninth.
Currently occupying the spot is Watford, who after winning last night are three points ahead of Claude Puel’s side, but with a -9 worse goal difference.
But for the travelling side the three points would be even more vital, as they bid to avoid relegation once again. Palace are 16th in the table but just four points clear of safety, and a win could in fact take them level on points with Southampton.
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Why Crystal Palace will win
Crystal Palace has an advantage that doesn’t directly correlate to their own team: Manolo Gabbiadini is not playing. This is a major disadvantage for Southampton and may prove as the key component to why the Eagles take all three points. Southampton has found struggles throughout the year finding the back of the net. Without Gabbiadini, this could be a major blow.
Southampton has always seemed to struggle with Crystal Palace. The fact that the London-based side is in immaculate form at the moment doesn’t help the cause either.
The Eagles have come away with four straight Premier League wins. In this quartet of victories, they have only conceded one goal thanks to the new acquisition of Mamadou Sakho.
Why Southampton will win
Stats don’t lie. This is the way that the analytical game works in football. Southampton have scored 2.0 goals against teams in the bottom half of the table at home, while only conceding 0.6 goals per game.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, has scored 1.0 goals per game and conceded 1.5 goals per game on the road. This is the formula for success when it comes to the Saints beating a team like Crystal Palace.
Although Southampton have struggled recently without Manolo Gabbiadini in the lineup, the Saints are the much more talented team on paper.
The midfield will be the difference in the match. The combination of Oriol Romeu and Steven Davis will make things impossible for Crystal Palace to get consistent build-up play against the Saints. With those two as the line in front of your defense, you will always have a chance.
Crystal Palace Predicted XI
Goalkeeper- Wayne Hennessey
Defenders- Joel Ward, Damien Delaney, Mamadou Sakho, Jeffrey Schlupp
Midfield- Luka Milivojevic, Yohan Cabaye, Jason Puncheon, Wilfred Zaha, Andros Townsend
Forward- Christian Benteke
Southampton Predicted XI
Goalkeeper- Fraser Forster
Defenders- Cedric Soares, Martin Caceres, Maya Yoshida, Ryan Bertrand
Midfield- Oriol Romeu, Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic, Nathan Redmond
Forward- Jay Rodriguez
The Verdict
If Southampton can establish possession in the early minutes of the game, they can have the opportunity to run this game out of hand. I think Claude Puel and the Saints will crack the Palace code and will come out of with three points.
Southampton 3-1 Crystal Palace