Preview: Southampton vs. Brentford - prediction, team news, lineups

New Southampton brag Ivan Juric volition proceed to question a archetypal triumph since taking implicit erstwhile they invited Brentford to St Mary's successful the Premier League connected Saturday.

The Saints are chopped adrift astatine the bottom of the table, but nary squad successful the part has a worse distant grounds than the Bees truthful acold this season.

Match preview

© Imago

Two games successful complaint person ended successful 2 defeats for the recently-appointed Juric astatine the Southampton helm, leaving the nine successful dire straits arsenic we deed the midway point.

After a adjacent 1-0 decision astatine location to West Ham United, Southampton again showed committedness distant to Crystal Palace past week, taking the pb done Tyler Dibling, but inactive falling to a 2-1 loss.

That means the Saints person inactive lone picked up 1 triumph and six points from their opening 19 games of the season, and could adjacent Sunderland's grounds for the worst ever commencement aft 20 matches with different decision here.

Not adjacent the infamous Derby County squad of 2007-08, which ended up finishing with a record-low 11 points, had truthful fewer points astatine this signifier of a campaign, with the penning seemingly connected the partition already.

Southampton are stone bottom, 8 points adrift of Leicester City successful 19th, and 10 points from information with fractional of the play inactive to play, truthful the top betterment successful Premier League past volition beryllium required for them to past from here.

With lone 12 goals scored successful the league truthful acold - a part debased - Southampton person inactive conceded implicit 2 goals-per-game this season, contempt tightening up defensively since the sacking of Russell Martin.

They person fto successful conscionable 3 goals successful the 3 goals since Martin's departure, but they volition present look a broadside that has proven susceptible of uncovering the nett with regularity this play successful Brentford.

Not lone that, Brentford person won the past 4 head-to-heads, scoring 11 goals successful the process, and they person the accidental to triumph successive distant games astatine Southampton for the archetypal clip ever here.

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However, their distant signifier is up determination with immoderate of the worst seen successful the Premier League successful caller times, suffering 17 defeats successful their past 23 connected the road.

That includes failing to triumph astatine each distant from location truthful acold this season, with Thomas Frank's men taking conscionable 2 points from a imaginable 27.

Worryingly, location signifier has besides begun deserting them too, with back-to-back defeats astatine the Gtech coming instantly aft a tally of 7 games which saw them triumph 19 points.

The lone Premier League fixture connected New Year's Day saw the Bees big Arsenal, and contempt taking the pb done Bryan Mbeumo, Brentford's antiaircraft weaknesses showed, with the rubric contenders scoring 3 unanswered goals to cruise to victory.

A 0-0 gully with Brighton & Hove Albion to adjacent retired 2024 is the lone crippled Brentford person not mislaid successful their past five, and they stay down successful 12th, contempt being among the league's highest scorers.

The spread to the apical six is inactive lone 7 points though, truthful surely not insurmountable, but with Manchester City and Liverpool to travel successful their adjacent two, Frank volition truly privation to spot his broadside prime up a triumph here.

Southampton Premier League form:

Southampton signifier (all competitions):

Brentford Premier League form:

Brentford signifier (all competitions):

Team News

© Imago

Southampton volition beryllium without midfielder Mateus Fernandes aft his booking successful the decision astatine Palace triggered a one-match suspension, truthful Juric volition anticipation to person Flynn Downes backmost from a dormant limb up of this one.

Will Smallbone should besides instrumentality soon successful midfield, but a sound is apt to support Jack Stephens sidelined for a mates of weeks.

After being ignored by Martin during the archetypal fewer months of the season, Armel Bella-Kotchap featured successful the matchday squad for the archetypal clip successful the league this play past week, and could beryllium utilised with Juric besides opting to play 3 centre-backs.

Brentford's wounded database is among the longest successful the Premier League, and galore of those absentees travel successful defence, wherever Frank is down to the barebones.

Ethan Pinnock, Kristoffer Ajer and Ben Mee are each presently out, truthful Sepp van den Berg's instrumentality connected New Year's Day was good timed, adjacent if his minutes were managed.

We say: Southampton 0-0 Brentford

Juric has enactment his marker down rapidly and instantly made Southampton tougher to people against, compared to the shots that would often rainfall down connected their extremity nether Martin.

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