A tradition derby in the Premier League opposes two rivals from the east, Southampton and Bournemouth. The two meet on Friday evening, from 20:00 pm on St. Mary’s, in the first match of the 6th round in England. The guests come to this match without a number of important players.
Eddie Howe cannot rely on Brooks, Daniels, Francis, Gosling, Groeneveld, Kelly, Smith and Stanislas, and their absence was evident in the first stages of the new season. However, Bournemouth has admirable performances and ranks 9th (8-9), being above Southampton’s rival, which ranks 10th (5-6), at 7 points each. We expect again a good performance from the guest golfer, Callum Wilson.
Southampton are coming off a good series of matches, without defeat in the last four games (one in the English League Cup): 2-0 at Brighton, 1-0 at Fulham, 1-1 at Manchester United and 1-0 at Sheffield United . Thus, the “saints” have escaped pressure, and Ralf Hasenhuttl can concentrate even better on the quality of the game played by the red and white.
Bournemouth lost the matches with Manchester City (1-3) and Leicester (1-3), but prevailed against Everton (3-1) the previous weekend, which raised the morale of the “cherry blossoms”. This is important before the derby balanced with S’oton. Remarkable is that 4 of the last 5 direct duels of the two rivals ended in a draw: 3-3, 0-0, 1-1 and 0-0. We expect again a tight duel, and the two defenses will be generous in tackling and clearing.
PROBABLE TEAM AT SOUTHAMPTON – BOURNEMOUTH:
Southampton: Gunn – Bednarek, Yoshida, Vestergaard – Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Cedric – Djenepo, Boufal – Adams
Bournemouth: Ramsdale – Stacey, Cook, Ake, Rico – Fraser, Cook, Billing, King – Solanke, Wilson
PREDICTION: Southampton to win @ 2,07
