Southampton vs Crystal Palace
Date: 28/12/2019
K/O: 15:00
Venue: St. Mary’s
Referee: Andy Madley
Ralph Hasenhuttl will be eager to please the home fans this weekend after a fantastic away performance at Stamford Bridge, lifting them into 14th place. However, Crystal Palace sit in 9th, five points ahead of the Saints, which will prove a challenge for the side on the South Coast.
The London side will head into this fixture with serious intent and confidence after a late wondergoal from Jordan Ayew was enough to see out West Ham on Boxing Day.
However, Crystal Palace have always struggled against Southampton with the Saints winning 12 out of their 20 previous fixtures and only losing three times. With Southampton’s current form, Palace will need to pull something special out of the bag to grind a result from St. Mary’s. Southampton’s home form will have been something that Hodgson will look to exploit. However, the Saints have won two out of their last three games at home, only narrowly losing to West Ham.
Whichever way the game pans out, it will be close. Both teams will be heading into the game with confidence and will look to take all three points. Disregarding the 4-0 drubbing by Spurs at the beginning of the season, Palace’s games have been incredibly tight, with one goal often making the difference, meaning that the first goal could be the most important in this fixture. The Saints kept their first league clean sheet in 14 games on Boxing Day and will strive to carry forward the defensive confidence that this will instill into the side – a difficult day ahead for Hodgson and his men.
Team News
Southampton
Hasenhuttl has no new injury woes to report, giving him the license to play his best XI in front of the home fans. Danny Ings and Shane Long have worked excellently together recently, with Long making runs allowing space for Ings, and Ings doing what he does best.
However, the combination of Che Adams and Michael Obafemi on Boxing Day was outstanding and offered Hasenhuttl almost a very similar partnership but with differing attributes. Adams’ hold up play is brilliant, while Obafemi’s pace is enough to scare any defender; and at only 19, he is only going to get better.
The 9-0 hammering by Leicester seems to be the best thing to happen to the Saints. Since then they have won four out of their last six Premier League games, lifting them from a dismal looking 19th to a healthier 14th. With only six points between 14th and seventh, and Crystal Palace within those ranks, the potential to climb the table is there. To add to this, with the fire back in the Southampton team, it is wholly possible to get themselves out of the rut they have been in.
Hasenhuttl will be praising the reintroduction of Stuart Armstrong. He looked like the link that Southampton had been missing, controlling the pace of play while causing defence serious problems. If it was not for his work rate and sheer determination, Southampton’s second goal on Thursday simply would not have happened, a player that Hodgson will need to be very wary of.
Crystal Palace
Hodgson has been hit with a lot of injuries over the Christmas period, with Patrick van Aanholt and Christian Benteke joining those ranks, both with muscle strains. This leaves the Eagles without Gary Cahill, Dann, Schlupp, Townsend, Ward, Van Aanholt and Benteke.
Palace are unbeaten in their last two away games at St. Mary’s, which will give them a boost (W1 D1). However, Hodgson as a manager has never been known for squad rotation, even within the busy Christmas period. This may leave them at a disadvantage to the Saints, who didn’t even start their star man Danny Ings in their 2-0 win over Chelsea. Hodgson knows all about Ings and has come out expressing his regret at not bringing him to the Eagles as he is a natural-born goal-scorer.
The Eagles are still with their main man Wilfred Zaha who has remained uninjured and at the top of his game. A player who could absolutely terrorise Cedric Soares down the right-hand side of Southampton’s defence, as Allan Saint-Maximin did in their fixture against Newcastle. Soares’ tendency to bomb forward may give Zaha the space and time he needs to impact the game in a huge way.
Predicted Starting XIs
Southampton (4-4-2): McCarthy; Cedric, Bednarek, Stephens, Bertrand; Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Redmond, Armstrong; Ings, Obafemi
Crystal Palace (4-4-3): Guaita; Kelly, Tomkins, Sakho, Riedewald; Milivojevic, Kouyate, McArthur; McCarthy, Zaha, Ayew
Score Prediction: Southampton 2-1 Crystal Palace
The Saints have started to gain some traction at home this season yet with their confidence sky-high after beating Chelsea, it will be difficult to break them down and contain Ings at the same time. Palace will have their fair share of pressure, but the pendulum is swinging Saints’ way at this moment in time
