Burnley vs Southampton
Date: 10/08/2019
K/O: 15:00
Venue: Turf Moor
Referee: Graham Scott
It has been a long summer for Premier League fans, but the wait is almost over. Two teams who will be desperate to improve on their league positions from last year meet on Saturday as Burnley entertain Southampton at Turf Moor.
Burnley edged off Southampton last year by just one point, as the Clarets finished 15th on 40 points and the Saints 16th with 39.
An interesting affair is to be expected to kick the season off, with Burnley unbeaten against the Saints in their last five meetings (W2–D3), however, their previous two GW1 fixtures played at Turf Moor have been defeats.
Southampton will have their sights set on winning their first opening fixture since the 2013/14 season. Hasenhüttl will be well aware that travelling to Burnley on the first day of the season will not be a walk in the park, by any stretch of the imagination. However, there may be a quiet confidence after how his side performed in the latter end of last season.
Burnley and Southampton have met eight times in the Premier League. Seven times out of those eight have been goalless at half time, and with the sides meeting on the first day of the season, a cagey affair could be seen with neither side wanting to flinch first.
On the other hand, we could have an exciting game ahead of us. Burnley’s confidence in their record against the Saints, combined with Hasenhüttl’s influence, could make for a very exciting game.
Burnley have had a relatively quiet transfer window, only spending £7m, with Jay Rodriguez being the biggest statement at £5m. However, despite not splashing out, there seems to be an air of assurance around the club as Chris Wood stated that there is a “collective confidence around the club, players and staff included” which can only be down to Sean Dyche’s belief that he has given to the players already in his squad.
Burnley have had a successful pre-season, winning four and only losing once. Their most notable achievement saw a 6-1 drubbing of French side OGC Nice. While pre-season is pre-season and games are irrelevant, a successful preseason will always be more beneficial to the players and staff as confidence will be high when going into the season ahead.
The lack of signings suggests Dyche will play in a similar way to which he did last season. A 4-4-2 system which proved extremely difficult to break down, and with James Tarkowski and Ben Mee returning to form that centre back partnership, playing Burnley could well be a thorn in the side of opposing Premier League managers this year.
With the added firepower of Rodriguez upfront, a top-half finish should really be in the sights of all involved at the Clarets. Despite the competition surrounding the top half of the Premier League, that should be the ambition as Burnley will not be hoping for another scrap in and around the relegation zone.
Hasenhuttl has gone into the summer with evident intent, strengthening the Saints’ armoury with signings like Che Adams and Moussa Djenepo. He has been receiving a lot of praise for the way he handled Southampton towards the end of last year. However, it will be interesting to see how he performs with a full pre-season behind him and the full 2019/20 campaign ahead of him.
A lot of Saints’ problems originated from their lack of defensive solidarity last season, losing a total of 27 points from winning positions. Yet Hasenhuttl has not decided to sign any defensive players. This has caused some uproar within the Saints fan community, and rightly so. But should a manager who got them out away from an almost imminent relegation be respected and trusted more ahead of his first full season on the south coast?
Despite their previous record against Burnley, the Saints will go into this game with confidence after a successful unbeaten pre-season, facing and beating teams such as FC Koln and Feyenoord. A brief introduction to the 4-2-2-2 seen at RB Leipzig was seen during the pre-season campaign, Hassenhuttl’s favoured formation in Germany, and a potential foreshadowing of a new set up for Southampton in the following weeks.
The effective deployment of this formation by Hasenhuttl skyrocketed Leipzig to second place in the Bundesliga, only falling short to FC Bayern Munich. More successful seasons may be ahead for the team on the south coast if they can start promisingly with three points against Burnley on Saturday.
Predicted Starting XIs
Burnley (4-4-2): Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil; Wood, Barnes.
Southampton (5-3-2): Gunn; Valery, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Yoshida, Bertrand; Hojbjerg, Romeu, Ings; Adams, Redmond.
Prediction: Burnley 1-3 Southampton
Despite Turf Moor being a difficult place to travel to, the Clarets’ record in GW1 at home is not something to shout about. Hasenhuttl will be keen to make a statement in their opening game after having time to work with his side adopted mid-way through last season, and Adams could make his mark on his Premier League debut.
