The Daily Star Ireland
Southampton’s return to the Premier League after a brief stint in the Championship last season has been disastrous. Currently sitting at the bottom of the table, the Saints have only accumulated 6 points from 19 matches. Their recent form has been poor, suffering heavy defeats against Chelsea (1-5), Aston Villa (1-0), and Tottenham (0-5). They did manage a 0-0 draw against Fulham after Ivan Juric took charge but then lost to West Ham (0-1) on Boxing Day and Crystal Palace (2-1) last weekend.
Brentford, on the other hand, is positioned 12th in the league. After a 2-1 loss to Chelsea and a 3-1 defeat to Newcastle in the League Cup, they experienced their first home loss of the season against Nottingham Forest (0-2). However, they showed resilience by earning an encouraging 0-0 draw at Brighton.
For Southampton, injuries continue to plague their squad. Goalkeeper Bazunu, midfielder Smallbone, and striker Stewart are all sidelined, while former Lyon player Maxwell Cornet has been excluded from the manager’s plans. Defender Jack Stephens is a doubt for this match after missing the last game.
Southampton has struggled offensively, with just 11 goals scored in the Premier League this season, the worst attacking record in the league. No player has netted more than two goals, but there is some hope in 18-year-old Tyler Dibling, who has scored 2 goals and shows promise despite his youth.
Prediction
Southampton has not been an exciting team to watch recently, with 16 of their last 19 Premier League matches seeing no more than three goals. Similarly, six of the last eight games involving Brentford have also followed this pattern, so it is unlikely that this match will see more than 3.5 goals.
Prediction: Southampton 0 – 2 Brentford.
