The key fixture in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon sees relegation threatened Hull City travel to St Mary’s to take on Southampton.
Southampton have nothing left to play for in the league this season and sit comfortably in 9th place. Everton are well out of sight on 58 points in 7th place so the best Southampton can do is to move above West Bromwich Albion, who are currently 4 points clear of the Saints. This must be their objective for the remainder of the season.
Away Day Blues to Haunt Hull at Southampton
Hull come into this match sitting just above the relegation zone in 17th place in the Premier League table. The Tigers are 2 points clear of Swansea City who are in 18th place and unless Middlesbrough string an impressive run of wins together between now and the end of the season, it’s between Hull and Swansea for the final relegation place.
Southampton vs. Hull City
English Premier League – Saturday 29th April 2017
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Draw Best Odd of: 3/1 at Ladbrokes |
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Southampton Form
Claude Puel has seen his team lose their last two Premier League games and will want to turn things around as the end of the season draws near. The two defeats have come against top quality opposition in Manchester City and Chelsea but in truth, Southampton have been struggling since they were taken apart by Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Following the 5-0 defeat at home to Arsenal, Southampton have won 4 of their 11 Premier League games and have been beaten by both Swansea and West Ham United during that period.
Overall home form has been hit and miss all season and Southampton have won 6 of their 15 home Premier League games, which is not what Saints fans will have expected at the start of the campaign.
Hull City Form
The Tigers are very much like Burnley and have relied on their home matches to pick up points this season. Marco Silva has done very well since coming into the club and Hull have won 6 of their last 7 games at the KCOM Stadium. However, away form tells a completely different story.
Hull have won just 1 away Premier League match this season, which came at Swansea way back in August. Therefore, Hull have lost 14 and drawn 2 of their last 16 away league games and not even the appointment of Silva has managed to change their awful away record.
Team News
Southampton may be without Sofiane Boufal, who looked good at Chelsea in mid-week but was withdrawn because of a knock. If he fails to make it, Nathan Redmond should step-in to what will probably be a largely unchanged XI from that game.
Hull had Oumar Niasse’s suspension over-turned so he will start the match but Moses Odubajo, Omar Olabdellaoui, Will Keane, Ryan Mason and David Meyler are all out injured.
Top Betting Tips
Despite having more to play for, Hull’s away record suggests they will pick up nothing from this match and their odds of 4/1 to win with William Hill underline this point.
Hull have conceded 40 goals away from home this season and it seems unlikely they will keep a clean sheet. There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 6 of Southampton’s last 7 home Premier League games and in the last 4 of Hull’s away games. You can get 6/4 with PaddyPower for the Saints to win and over 2.5 goals.
All of Hull’s last 7 away defeats in the Premier League have been by 2 goals or more and Ladbrokes offer 7/2 for Southampton to win the match by 2 goals.