England Premier League
Friday 16th September 2022
Kick off at 8pm BST
Venue: Villa Park
Match Preview:
After the sadness of the Queen’s passing Premier League football is back on Friday, although 3 games will still be postponed because of policing issues. Two games will take place on Friday and in this one Aston Villa will be at home to Southampton.
There is pressure on Villa manager Steven Gerrard coming into this game even though there has only been six games so far and some of the reason for that pressure is that sacking season seems to have come early. Already we have seen Scott Parker and Thomas Tuchel lose their jobs and history says when one gets sacked others follow. The cold hard truth for Gerrard is that Villa finished last season in poor form and in this one they have won just once and come into this encounter in 17th place.
However a 3 game losing streak was stopped as Villa surprised everyone by drawing 1-1 with the champions Manchester City. The draw looks even more impressive given that they were losing, can that result be a catalyst for things to come?
Southampton are in 12th place but Villa could overtake them with victory here so everything could change quickly for both sides. The Saints lost their last game 1-0 away to Wolves and have in fact lost two of their last three. In between that though they surprised Chelsea with a 2-1 win and they have already won on the road in this campaign beating Leicester. The club would push into the top 10 with victory here but the one concern is that they are conceding goals in their recent games.
Team News:
Aston Villa: Matthew Cash will be assessed due to a recent hamstring injury, Leander Dendoncker is being pencilled in to return for this game after a bout of illness. Diego Carlos is out long term with his Achilles.
Southampton: Romeo Lavia has a muscle injury and he isn’t due back for another 5 weeks. Valentino Livramento is a long term absentee with his knee.
Aston Villa vs Southampton Head to Head:
Last season marks a great memory for Aston Villa as they won this fixture 4-0.
In Aston Villa’s last two home games against Southampton they have scored 7 goals.
Southampton have won 5 of the last seven meetings.
There is a 60% chance to see over 2.5 goals.
Aston Villa vs Southampton Prediction:
Both teams have had a bigger break than they would have thought possible at this stage of the season due to the tragic events with the Queen passing and there doesn’t seem to be much in it between these sides. Southampton have got the better over their hosts in recent years but both sides will realise that these type of matches are all about who performs on the day.
For Villa they remain an enigma because of how hard they fought not to lose against Manchester City one could believe that shows the ultimate fighting spirit and they shouldn’t be in the position they are let alone Gerrard being under any type of pressure. But you get the feeling that Villa would have wanted to play literally the next day after the City draw, the players seemed to have found the best of themselves. Southampton remain unpredictable they have beaten quality teams this season and dropped points to mid table ones too, so this could be a close game and we have noticed that when they get beaten heavy by one team they usually up their game the next time they meet.
This will be close but we will back the home side to squeeze through here. We expect to see more of Danny Ings and he is always busy up front so will back him to score in this game and of course the forward scored the last time the clubs met.
Aston Villa vs Southampton Betting Tips:
Aston Villa to beat Southampton at 2.00
Anytime goalscorer: Danny Ings at 2.75
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