Southampton vs Aston Villa Preview: TV, Line-ups, and Predictions
Southampton return to action this Friday as they welcome Aston Villa to St. Mary’s and look to extend their unbeaten streak in the league.
The two sides are separated by a point on the table but seem to be trending in opposite directions at the moment. Southampton have not lost in 3 straight in the Premier League and Villa have lost their last 4 matches.
Both teams will look at this match as a way to pick up more points. For Southampton it is a chance to continue growing momentum and climb higher up on the table and for Villa it is a chance for them to stop this nasty slide.
I suspect it will be an entertaining match and both teams will have a chance to win. Let us see how both teams can win this match.
How Southampton Will Win
The Saints will have Armando Broja back and ready to play tomorrow so I suspect he will return directly into the starting lineup. That is a major boost for a team who hs struggled to score goals this season and I think a partnership of Broja and Adams would be our best one this season.
The Saints are confident and playing tremendous defense recently and will look to keep another clean sheet on Friday. If Southampton can play exactly like they did against Watford, just score more, they should dominate Villa and win this comfortably.
Villa, having lost 4 straight, could get discouraged if they go down early so look for Southampton to press hard early and try to get an early goal to apply the pressure.
How Aston Villa Will Win
Aston Villa will be without Danny Ings on Friday which is a blow to a struggling side. They have not necessarily had an issue scoring goals however but their defense has been poor this season. They have conceded 19 goals in 10 matches and will need to probably keep a clean sheet if they hope to win on Friday.
I believe they will sit back a little deeper and allow Southampton to have possession and look to strike on the counter. Southampton, for years now, have been very prone to getting caught out on the counter and this strategy has worked in the past as the Saints struggle to break down a low-block.
If Villa can keep a clean sheet they will find a goal in this match and they can win.
dark. Next. Armando Broja back in Southampton training ahead of Villa fixture
TV Channel
Southampton will be televised on Sky Sports in the U.K. and on Peacock in the United States
Predicted Line-ups
Southampton: Alex McCarthy; Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Mohammed Salisu, Tino Livramento; Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse; Stuart Armstrong, Nathan Redmond; Armando Broja, Che Adams
Aston Villa: Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Tyrone Mings, Kortney Hause, Matt Targett; John McGinn, Marvelous Nakamba, Jacob Ramsey; Emiliano Buendia, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey
Predicted Line-ups
Southampton 2 – 1 Aston Villa