Bournemouth vs. Southampton: Saints travel to the Cherries in a must-win fixture!
By Edward Waugh
Mark Hughes’ men take on one of The Premier League surprise packages this Saturday, when they take on Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, having not won a game in England’s top tier in over a month, the pressure to win is very much on the Saints.
In fact, you would have to go as far back as the 1st September to when Southampton came away from a game with the three points – that being against a weakened Crystal Palace side who were missing their star player in Wilfred Zaha, and therefore there is a general concern that the south-coast club might be out of their depth this campaign.
This is due to this result being their only win so far, though there have been games were Saints could’ve been considered unfortunate to not get a win or draw out of the game – a late draw to Brighton at home via a Glenn Murray penalty kick, and missed opportunities against the likes of Chelsea and Leicester City have caused for results to seem lacklustre from an outside view.
Despite all of this, it should be stated Southampton’s impressive record against Eddie Howe’s men, we will get into the actual statistics later – however on the contrary, the Cherries have been extremely well so far this campaign and currently sit in the top six after eight Premier League games with five wins, as well as being the fourth highest scoring team.
Their two only defeats came at the hands of a high-flying Chelsea side, as well as a bizarre 4-0 drumming by an extremely defensive side in Burnley – Bournemouth being the complete opposite, that emphasis on attacking their opponents with blistering pace on the flanks and up top, which could easily be a problem for Southampton’s slow defensive pairing in Wesley Hoedt and Jannik Vestergaard.
Why Southampton Will Win
Since 2010, the Saints and Bournemouth have met nine times, with this Saturday being the tenth in this eight-year stint. But considering Saints have won six of these fixtures, with two being draws – Mark Hughes should have some confidence in coming out with a draw at the very least away from St. Mary’s.
Mentioned earlier, Southampton are without a win in over a month, and with pressure starting to build on the mentioned manager, he will be eager to pick up a positive result to silence his critics and start building some momentum for the season ahead – especially against Saints’ nearest Premier League rivals that some even consider a ‘derby’.
The players will also be looking to prove a point following the most recent run of results, no professional player will be encouraged at the thought of losing another game and thus the desire to pick up a win against Bournemouth should be strong amongst the squad – especially those who have been extremely impressive this campaign in the likes of Nathan Redmond and Danny Ings.
Why Bournemouth Will Win
With the mentioned history in terms of results between the two teams, Eddie Howe will be keen to make a change in that by picking up the win on Saturday – not only to set the record straight but to also keep his Cherries side pushing in the right direction in saying in the top half of the table.
Bournemouth come up against Saints at a good time, given their poor run of form, it could be time to try and put ‘another nail in the coffin’. Their opposition’s confidence could potentially be quite low given how results have gone so far this campaign and therefore the opportunity to exploit that could be very high.
The Cherries’ form very much goes in their favour when predicting this game, and given their goalscoring record and Saints’ poor defensive record – putting two and two together does not make pretty reading for any Southampton fan.
Predicted Line-ups
Southampton
Goalkeeper: Alex McCarthy
Defenders: Ryan Bertrand, Wesley Hoedt, Maya Yoshida, Jan Bednarek, Cedric Soares
Midfielders: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Mario Lemina
Attackers: Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings, Mohamed Elyounoussi
Bournemouth
Goalkeeper: Asmir Begovic
Defenders: Adam Smith, Nathan Ake, Steve Cook, Simon Francis
Midfielders: Ryan Fraser, Lewis Cook, Jefferson Lerma, David Brooks
Strikers: Callum Wilson, Joshua King
Prediction
Southampton 2-1 Bournemouth