Southampton vs Wolves: Can Saints Pick up Fourth Win in a Row?
Southampton welcome the Wolves into St. Mary’s on Saturday with the teams now only separated by 3 points on the table and Europa in sight.
The Saints are coming into this match have three consecutive wins in all competitions and are looking to extend that streak to four. Everyone is at or near full health and Hasenhuttl will have the full squad to choose from when the welcome the Wolves this weekend into their home.
Likely, we will see the same line-up as the Leicester match as that has seemed to be working out well for the club. A win for Saints will get them ever closer to a potential Europa League spot and a win for Wolves could see them go level with Man U on points.
This should be an exciting match as both teams will go out and look to win the match.
How Southampton Will Win.
Quite simply, if Southampton want to win this match, they will just have to continue what they have been doing the past month. Pressuring the ball in the opponents half, creating quick chances from turnovers, and play stout defense.
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This will be no easy task this match however as Wolves are a difficult team to pin back and love hitting on the counter attack with their pace and skill. The two holding midfielders (Likely Hojbjerg and Ward-Prowse) will be the key to shutting down the visitors attack before they get going.
Wolverhampton’s defense can be tough to break down but it is not impossible if they decide not to sit back and invite pressure. Which I do not think will be the case because they typically will only do that for City or Liverpool.
Still, there might not be many goals in this one. Only one match in the last 5 meetings between the sides had more than 2 goals between the teams. The one exception was a 3-1 victory for the Saints at home. Hopefully they can repeat that.
How Wolverhampton Will Win
Wolves have had another solid season thus far and are hoping to stop the small skid they have found themselves on after beating Manchester City in December.
The first match between the two saw a 1-1 draw at the Molineaux with both teams having chances to win the match. I suspect this match will play very similarly to that one. If Wolves will want to win however they will need to create more chances than they did the first time.
With only 4 shots in the whole match, and the only one on target being a penalty, Wolves will know they have to be more clinical in the final third. Adama Traore, will be the key man. Southampton’s defense still tends to struggle with pace and not many people in the world are faster than Traore.
If he can make smart runs in behind the back line and his teammates can pick him out he could be in for a big match.
Next. Report states Ings is in line for Euro 2020 squad “audition”. dark
Predicted Line-ups
Southampton: 4-2-2-2
Goalkeeper: Alex McCarthy
Defenders: Cedric, Jack Stephens, Jan Bednarek, Ryan Bertrand
Holding Midfielders: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, James Ward-Prowse
Attacking Midfielders: Nathan Redmond, Stuart Armstrong
Forwards: Danny Ings, Che Adams
Wolverhampton: 3-4-3
Goalkeeper: Rui Patricio
Defenders: Leander Dendoncker, Conor Coady, Romain Saiss
Midfielders: Matt Doherty, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Jonny
Forwards: Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Pedro Neto
Predicted Score:
Southampton 2-0 Wolverhampton