Southampton vs. Brighton
Venue: St Mary’s Stadium
Kick off: 4PM
Seeking to put an end to abysmal winless streaks in the Premier League, Southampton welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to St Mary’s this afternoon.
The hosts drew 2-2 with Leicester City in midweek, while the Seagulls make the journey across the South Coast after taking a point home from West Ham United.
With Southampton entering their battle with Leicester off the back of a 4-0 Liverpool thumping and talk of the previous 9-0 embarrassment, the stage was seemingly set for the Foxes to produce another goal-laden performance down south.
However, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men performed valiantly to take a point in a 2-2 draw, as they took the lead twice through Jan Bednarek and Che Adams but were pegged back both times courtesy of replies from Jonny Evans and James Maddison in a game that was halted due to a medical emergency in the crowd.
This up-and-down Southampton side have now taken just one point from their last three Premier League matches and find themselves 16th in the table as a result – five points clear of 18th-placed Burnley, who do have a game in hand.
The Saints will certainly welcome another game on home territory, where they are now unbeaten in four and have lost just two of their last 12 Premier League games on the St Mary’s turf, but Brighton possess an almost identical away record so far this term.
A calamitous first half at the London Stadium saw Brighton go a goal down inside five minutes to Tomas Soucek’s header before losing both Jeremy Sarmiento and Adam Webster to injury, but the Seagulls swooped to take a point back down to the South Coast.
After also witnessing Adam Lallana come off due to a thigh problem and unable to replace him having used up all of their three substitutions, Neal Maupay’s stunning overhead kick in the 89th minute rescued an unlikely draw for Brighton in the capital.
While the circumstances of that draw were quite spectacular, it is now nine games without a win for Brighton in the Premier League, but the Seagulls’ ninth-placed ranking is still something to behold, sitting closely behind both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United who they will face later this month.
Brighton’s fast start to the season has taken an expected dip, but they have only suffered one defeat away from home all season and have shared the spoils in four of their last five on the road, although they have only scored four in that stretch.
Southampton managed to pick up a 2-1 win at the Amex Stadium last season before losing to the same scoreline against Brighton at home, with that result marking the Seagulls’ first-ever win against the Saints since their promotion to the Premier League.
Southampton possible XI: McCarthy, Livramento, Salisu, Lyanco, Walker-Peters, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Elyounoussi, Adams, Armstrong.
Brighton possible XI: Sanchez, Lamptey, Dunk, Duffy, Cucurella, Bissouma, Moder, March, Gross, Trossard, Maupay.