Southampton vs Bournemouth Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 22, 2015 @ 02:10 pm

Southampton scored a late equalizer from Sadio Mane to grab a point at Liverpool before Mane was sent off minutes later. Bournemouth scored the fastest goal of the season against Tottenham but eventually went on to lose 5-1.

Ronald Koeman’s side had a very jittery start to the season with 1 win in the opening 6 league games but a mini revival of 8 points from the next 12 possible has taken them into 8^th and renewed some happiness into the fans at the south-coast club. A local derby against Bournemouth is next on the cards and could be the new rivalry for fans to sink their teeth into as for many years it was Southampton-Portsmouth but Portsmouth’s decline means it could be a long period before those 2 sides are in the same division again. The point at Anfield took them from 12^th into 8^th and also kept them above Liverpool on goal difference. Koeman will want a strong performance in front of the home fans after the manner in which they threw the 3 points against Leicester last time out at St. Mary’s.

Eddie Howe won’t be feeling sorry for himself after another heavy defeat. Injuries have seriously impacted his squad but he won’t be pleased at how his side stormed into a 1-0 lead after just 49 seconds to then find themselves 3-1 down after 30 minutes. Artur Boruc gifted Tottenham back into the game after conceding a penalty for a rash challenge and Harry Kane dusted himself down to score the penalty before completing his hat trick in the demolition. Bournemouth have shipped 6 goals from personal errors and need to eradicate these mistakes should they wish to survive. It is now 10 goals conceded in 2 games and sit on the cusp of relegation.

It will be the first south-coast derby between these two sides in the Premier League and have only met on 3 occasions before with Southampton winning all 3. Southampton have registered more headed shots at goal than any other side in the league with Graziano Pelle having 14 headed efforts alone with 2 rewarding him with goals. It is also unsurprising that Southampton are only 2^nd to Tottenham for goals scored from set pieces.

Jay Rodriguez’s luck with injuries have been unfortunate but his latest ankle injury should only keep him out for the early parts of November. Shane Long also has an ankle injury and will be eager to return as soon as possible with Republic of Ireland’s crucial Euro 2016 play-off game with Bosnia & Herzegovina in November. Lee Tomlin and Harry Arter are 2 men Howe hopes to have in contention for the short trip to Southampton.

Southampton

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-5

Recent Form - WWWDD

Bournemouth 

Stats: W-2 L-6 D-2

Recent Form – DLDLL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Southampton (4-2-3-1) – Davis, Soares, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand, Clasie, Wanyama, Mane, S.Davis, Tadic, Pelle

Bournemouth (4-5-1) – Boruc, Francis, Cook, Distin, Daniels, Gosling, Surman, Smith, Ritchie, Pugh, Murray

Injury List/Suspended Players

Southampton – Forster (inj), Long (inj), Rodriguez (inj)
Bournemouth – Elphick (inj), Gradel (inj), Wilson (inj), Mings (inj)

Southampton v Bournemouth Head to Head

League Positions