Southampton vs Crystal palace preview
Watch Southampton vs crystal palace preview as Southampton hosts Crystal palace in a Saturday meeting in a premier league fixture at St Mary’s.
As Southampton is in bottom of the points table in the league, Crystal palace stands in the 12th position of the table. As Saints were defeated by Man city with 4-1 on the last week meeting, Crystal palace pounded Leicester with 5-1 goals on the last encounter.
Southampton was no match for Man city, as Ruben selles men shipped four to the champions in their top vs bottom battle.
An Erling Braut Haaland header on the stroke of half time allowed the floodgates to open for the second 45, where the scintillating Scandinavian bagged his second alongside strikes from Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez – the latter of whom scored from the spot just three minutes after Mara had restored some pride for the hosts.
Southampton’s Premier League destiny will not hinge on results against the title contenders, but a third defeat from four games has left the Saints rooted to 20th place and four points adrift of safety with eight games left to go, but many a twist and turn will be thrown up between now and the final whistle in gameweek 38.
While Saints fans will be glued to the table and calculating all possible permutations for the next few weeks, Selles has insisted that he will not “waste time” peering at the standings as he endeavours to snap Southampton’s five-game winless run in the Premier League, during which the hosts have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last four.
Such a statistic is hardly reassuring against a Crystal Palace side who have suddenly found their shooting boots, and Southampton could lose 10 Premier League home games in a single season for just the third time. However, on the two previous occasions where St Mary’s defeats hit double figures – 1993-94 and 2019-20 – the Saints avoided relegation each time.
Team News and Injury
Injury was added to insult in Southampton’s defeat to Man City, as talented teenage midfielder Romeo Lavia came off with a “tight hamstring” according to Selles, but the 19-year-old has made a rapid return to training and could feature in some capacity.
Juan Larios (thigh) and Valentino Livramento (fitness) remain sidelined for the hosts, who must also cope without Mohammed Salisu and Che Adams (calf) after both players missed the defeat to Man City – the latter’s absence saw Carlos Alcaraz deployed as a false nine – while Mislav Orsic (hip) has also joined the absentee list.
However, Mara’s goal off the bench against City could push Alcaraz back into a midfield role, while fellow substitute Moussa Djenepo jinked his way through challenges to set up Mara and could potentially threaten Kamaldeen Sulemana or Mohamed Elyounoussi’s spot in the XI.
Similarly, Palace also left their win over Leeds with a new face in the treatment room, as Edouard was forced off with an ankle problem in the latter exchanges, but Hodgson revealed in his pre-game press conference that the ex-Celtic man would be fine for this one.
Zaha (groin) and Vicente Guaita (calf) are facing another couple of weeks on the sidelines – they have also been joined by Nathaniel Clyne (knee) – while Nathan Ferguson will not be considered for selection just yet either, but Chris Richards trained prior to the Leeds win and may be able to force his way into the squad.
Should Edouard prove his fitness, Hodgson will be loath to alter a winning formula, as Ayew seeks to become the first Ghanaian player to hit 50 Premier League goal contributions – the 31-year-old has 32 strikes and 17 assists to his name so far.
Southampton- crystal palace head-to- head stats
Southampton have a good historical record against Crystal Palace and have won 49 out of the 116 matches played between the two teams, as opposed to Crystal Palace’s 42 victories.
Southampton are winless in their last three matches against Crystal Palace in the Premier League, with their previous victory against the Eagles coming by a 3-1 scoreline in 2021.
Crystal Palace won the reverse fixture by a 1-0 scoreline and are looking to complete a Premier League double over the Saints for the first time since the 1980-81 campaign.
Crystal Palace won this fixture against Southampton by a 2-1 scoreline last season and are looking to win consecutive Premier League away games against the Saints for the first time in their history.
Southampton have lost nine Premier League home games this season – their worst record in this regard since the 2019-20 campaign.
Southampton vs crystalpalace prediction
Crystal Palace have been impressive under Roy Hodgson so far and were ruthless against Leeds United last week. Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze found the back of the net on the day and will look to add to their goal tallies in this match.
Southampton have struggled this season and will need to come up with a miracle to avoid relegation. Crystal Palace are the better team at the moment and should be able to win this game.
