Southampton vs. Newcastle: St. Mary’s set for Saturday six-pointer

This weekend, the Saints welcome Newcastle to St. Mary’s in what is considered another ‘must win’ game – a common theme with how the current campaign is panning out.

Despite drawing against a high-flying Bournemouth side last weekend, and having chances to snatch a win late in the game, the emphasis on winning against the Magpies this Saturday is crucial in terms of keeping out of the relegation spots and potentially mounting a challenge to the top half of the league.

Mark Hughes and his players have been quite vocal this week about how their last performance was a turning point for their performances and results – the former mentioning how he feels that his side could be pushing for a top ten finish if results start going their way.

What stands in their way of making this intent a reality is Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle side, who have experienced similar success as the Saints in the Premier League thus far – not a lot. The only difference is that the south coast club currently sit 16th off a win and draw, whilst their rivals sit at the foot of the table as they are yet to win a game this campaign.

This could mean positives or negatives for Mark Hughes, win and condemn Newcastle to what could be another difficult season for them – or failure to pick up the three points could condemn the Welshman to be the first departure of the Premier League campaign, with pressure starting to mount and talk of Southampton looking at other options in the likes of Leonardo Jardim.

Why Southampton Will Win

Stated above, this game is do or die for Southampton – failure to beat a team that is as low on confidence as Newcastle could all but condemn Hughes’ side to a yet another difficult campaign, very much losing the vote and support of the fans who are becoming increasingly frustrated.

The Saints have been given a slight hope that Newcastle might be missing a key player in Salomon Rondon this weekend. The Venezuelan is a real physical presence up top for The Magpies and therefore getting attacks started through his hold up play could become non-existent, especially if Jannik Vestergaard features.

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Players such as Wesley Hoedt, Jack Stephens and Cedric Soares are starting to find their feet after a difficult start to the campaign – Hughes looks like he is starting to establish his starting XI and consistency in picking the same players week in, week out seems to be slowly building team chemistry, especially after coming away with a draw against an overachieving Bournemouth side.

Why Newcastle Will Win

With the Magpies yet to win in the Premier League this season, the pressure to come away with any type of result at St. Mary’s is huge – failure to do so would also leave their fans disgruntled, who believe that the club is not being run properly by their current owner Mike Ashley.

Newcastle have a excellent coach in Rafa Benitez, who has managed the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Chelsea – and is very knowledgeable of the game, tactically sound and will understand how to play a good defensive game against Southampton, who happen to be the second lowest scorers in the league.

Playing Southampton last season, and under current manager Benitez, Newcastle picked up four points and really knew how to outplay the south coast sife – Southampton could have considered themselves lucky that Manolo Gabbiadini was on good form in the last St. Mary’s fixture that these two teams played out, scoring two on the day in a 2-2 draw.

Predicted Line-ups

Southampton

Goalkeeper: Alex McCarthy

Defenders: Ryan Bertrand, Wesley Hoedt, Jack Stephens, Cedric Soares

Midfielders: Nathan Redmond, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Mario Lemina, Mohammed Elyounoussi

Strikers: Danny Ings, Manolo Gabbiadini

Newcastle

Goalkeeper: Martin Dubravka

Defenders: Paul Dummett, Federico Fernandez, Jamaal Lascelles, DeAndre Yedlin

Midfielders: Kenedy, Mohamed Diame, Jonjo Shelvey, Matt Ritchie

Strikers: Ayoze Perez, Joselu

Prediction

Southampton 1-0 Newcastle