Southampton vs AFC Bournemouth
Date: 28/04/2018
K/O: 15:00pm
Venue: St. Mary’s Stadium
Referee: Anthony Taylor
After their recent exit in the FA Cup, the Saints will now solely be focusing on their bid to remain a Premier League club for season 2018/19. Bournemouth, who are sitting in a relatively comfortable position of 11th, will see this as an opportunity to smash the nail in the coffin of Southampton’s season, with Mark Hughes’ side four points off safety with four games to go, leaving little time for the Saints to regain traction in their season.
However, Eddie Howe will know the dangers of coming to St. Mary’s as Bournemouth have never won away to Southampton in any competition (D4, L8). Bournemouth have also conceded an average of 2.2 goals a game away from home conceding 31 goals in 14 games, providing the perfect opportunity for Mark Hughes to get ever needed points on the Premier League board.
Embed from Getty ImagesWith one win in their last 21 Premier League games, the Saints face real danger of dropping to the Championship, an extremely hard fought league, which they may struggle to get out of. The consequences of selling quality players and not re-investing the money eventually has caught up with the Southampton board, who are under serious criticism from the fans at this point in time.
The Northern Irish captain and club captain, Steven Davis, is still out with an Achilles injury which could last the remainder of the season.
Bournemouth have Arter, Mings and Stanislas out with injuries that require long periods of rehabilitation and they will not be seen for the remainder of the season also.
Embed from Getty ImagesPredicted Starting XI’s
Southampton:
(3-5-2) – McCarthy, Stephens, Yoshida, Hoedt, Cedric, Hojbjerg, Romeo, Lemina, Bertrand, Long, Austin.
Bournemouth:
(4-4-1-1) – Begovic, Francis, Cook, Ake, Daniels, Fraser, Cook, Gosling, Ibe, King, Wilson.
Prediction: Southampton 2 AFC Bournemouth 1
Written by Niall Henry.
