An interesting local derby was played on Saturday at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth on Saturday. The host team receives Southampton‘s visit, the rivalry of the two being notorious. Eddie Howe’s band has impressed lately and comes after the clearest away win in the history of the club, but the match with the “saints” will not be an easy one.
We will see a crushing duel, sprinkled with many physical duels at the limit. Ambition is great and we will be watching Danny Ings from Southampton, who made his junior at Bourenmouth and is the most dangerous player in Mark Hughes camp. “Sparky” has not yet found the ideal system at Southampton and has changed the starting team lately, but has kept a constant: the pair of central defenders, made up of rudimentary Vestergaard and Hoedt. Against Bournemouth, such a partnership will have big problems.
Southampton has 3 consecutive defeats in the championship.
Bournemouth has an explosive attack, and King, Wilson and Fraser can hurt their speed. Southampton will probably try to limit the number of hosts’ occasions, and the balance of the last six matches is favorable to white-red: 3 wins, two draws and a failure. They scored both teams in 3 of the last 4 direct duels, because none can afford to wait for the rival attacks in the defensive! And this time we should see gaps on both sides, especially as the defenses of the two are not at all exemplary.
Bournemouth is in 6th place in the Premier League (16-12 go), while Southampton is also in the relegation zone, 16th place (goal 6-14). Without a goal in the last three stages, the “saints” have to find a way to bring dangerous balls to Austin and Ings, and in 6 of the last 7 games of Bournemouth we saw at least three goals scored! There are no lot problems in the two camps, so we expect a good performance of the hosts. But we avoid bets on goals, because Southampton does not really play a convincing football! Bournemouth comes after a cateogorical success at Watford, 4-0, while Southampton just lost to Chelsea, score 0-3.
THE PROBABLE TEAMS
Bournemouth (4-4-2): Begovic; Francis, S. Cook, Ake, A. Smith; Brooks, Lerma, L. Cook, Fraser; King, Wilson
Southampton (4-4-2): McCarthy; Cedric, Vestergaard, Hoedt, Bertrand; Elyounoussi, Hojbjerg, Lemina, Redmond; Austin, Ings
PREDICTION: Bournemouth to win @ 2.05
