Two sides that aren’t exactly having the season that they expected. Southampton have played most of their league games at home but are still struggling, while Everton are still at the time of writing this preview looking for a new manager to replace former Ronald Koeman. Southampton have had a few spells in the Europa League in recent seasons, though with little success.
Two managers later, they find themselves in the bottom half of the Premier League and one of those sides that could well be facing a relegation battle. This is their 13th Premier League game of the season and their eighth at home, yet the first seven have only produced wins over Crystal Palace and West Ham United, both below them in the table.
It’s scoring goals where the Saints have their biggest nightmares with only nine scored in 12 games and five of those came in the home matches against West Ham United and Newcastle United. Manolo Gabbiadini is their top scorer this season with just three goals, two of them coming in the home 2-2 draw with Newcastle United. Signing a striker in January is imperative if the Saints want to avoid a disastrous 2018.
They come into this game on a run of three games without a win and were well beaten 3-0 at Liverpool last Saturday. Southampton have lost three of their last five home league games and failed to score in any of their defeats, the most recent being a 1-0 home defeat by Burnley. They have failed to score in nine of their last 12 home league games and their poor suffering fans have seen nine of the last 11 home league games have under 2.5 goals scored in them.
If the Southampton fans have been having a hard time watching their team, it’s been even worse for those who support Everton. A high-spending summer gave their fans plenty of optimism, but it’s been a total disaster for them to date. They begin the weekend just above the relegation zone, out of the Europa League and without a full-time boss. Hardly what they’d expect after all the talk of a top six finish and perhaps even getting into the Champions League.
They have just one win in their last six Premier League goals and that wouldn’t have happened if Tom Cleverley hadn’t missed a 100th minute penalty against them at Goodison Park. There’s been lots of talk about their failure to acquire a top striker during their summer spending spree and their fans will have noticed that former striker Romelu Lukaku has scored just one less league goal than Everton have managed in their first dozen Premier League games of the season.
There are other worries for Everton too. Their defence has conceded in six of their last seven Premier League games and not since the opening day of the season have they kept a clean sheet. Away form is a massive problem too as it’s 14 away league games without a win.
Conclusion
Both sides need a win or two because that’s all it takes to get you in the top ten and banish relegation worries for a few weeks. Southampton may be higher in the table than their opponents but before the year ends, they have to face both the Manchester sides, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Spurs, so a win here is even more important for them. Goals are a big problem for the home side, but they do face opponents who struggle to keep clean sheets. Everton did well to get a point at Palace and that’s not a great confidence booster for them This is a hard game to predict considering how inconsistent both sides are, but this looks booked for under 2.5 goals in the game.
The Key Stats
Last Five Premier League Results – Most recent first
Southampton – LLDWL
Everton – DWLLD
Head to Head – Last Five League Meetings
02/01/17 – Everton 3 Southampton 0
27/11/16 – Southampton 1 Everton 0
16/04/16 – Everton 1 Southampton 1
15/08/15 – Southampton 0 Everton 3
04/04/15 – Everton 1 Southampton 0
- Southampton have gone three league games without a win
- Southampton have lost three of their last five home league games without scoring.
- Nine of the last 12 home league games have seen Southampton fail to score.
- Everton have only won one of their last six league games.
- Everton have gone 14 away league wins without defeat.
- Everton haven’t kept a clean sheet in the league since their 1-0 win over Stoke City on the opening day of the season.
- Seven of the last ten Everton away league games have had under 2.5 goals scored in them.
- Nine of the last eleven Southampton home league games have had under 2.5 goals scored in them.