Southampton vs Newcastle predicted teams: Big changes for both sides

Southampton host Newcastle on Saturday afternoon and will be looking to bounce back from defeat to West Ham last time out.

There is a healthy gap of seven points between Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side and the Premier League’s relegation zone but positive results will have to be picked up again to fully secure safety.

Their record against Newcastle has been mixed in more recent seasons though an their last win over the Magpies came back in 2016.

Some of the stats seem to be going in favour of Saints head of tomorrow.

Saints have scored regularly this season, and although their defensive record has only seen them claim six clean sheets from 28 top-flight games so far, Newcastle have really struggled for goals more recently.

Steve Bruce’s side have not scored a league goal since late January but will be looking to follow up a 3-2 win over West Brom in the FA Cup tomorrow afternoon.

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Ahead of the meeting between the 13th and 14th placed teams in the Premier League, there has been some intriguing team news from both managers.

Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed on Thursday that Saints will be without both Stuart Armstrong and Will Smallbone, whilst Steve Bruce is likely to make changes from his side’s cup win in midweek.

In the loss to West Ham, James Ward-Prowse continued at right-back despite Kyle Walker-Peters and Yan Valery being fit enough for the bench.

With Will Smallbone unavailable through illness, Ward-Prowse should return to central-midfield and free up the full-back role for Walker-Peters to come back in.

Danny Ings came off the bench in the second-half too last week and is likely to return to the starting line-up tomorrow given his importance to Saints, whilst Stuart Armstrong could be replaced by Moussa Djenepo who returns after a family bereavement.

Steve Bruce will surely return to his first-choice line-up for Saturday, meaning that Martin Dubravka could return in goal and Jonjo Shelvey into midfield.

The Magpies’ boss also confirmed that Javier Manquillo “was a bit sore” after their cup game in midweek which could see DeAndre Yedlin come in at right-back.

Given that they have struggled for goals recently, it is expected that Dwight Gayle will come in to start in attack too.

Saints predicted line-up (4-2-2-2)

Alex McCarthy, Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens, Ryan Bertrand, James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Sofiane Boufal, Moussa Djenepo, Shane Long, Danny Ings

Newcastle predicted line-up (4-2-3-1)

Martin Dubravka, DeAndre Yedlin, Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Danny Rose, Jonjo Shelvey, Nabil Bentaleb, Valentino Lazaro, Miguel Almiron, Allan Saint-Maximin, Dwight Gayle