Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Premier League clash between Southampton and Brighton & Hove Albion, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
South Coast bragging rights are on the line once again on Saturday afternoon, where Premier League whipping boys Southampton will welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to St Mary’s.
The Saints edged closer to a swift Championship return owing to last weekend’s 3-1 loss to Bournemouth, while the Seagulls were feeling the love in a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Valentine’s Day.
Match preview
© Imago
As it turned out, slaying relegation rivals Ipswich Town on February 1 did not trigger a sustained revival for Ivan Juric‘s Southampton, who are still heading down their one-way street back to the second tier after suffering their 20th top-flight loss of the season.
Being dumped out of the FA Cup by Burnley had already killed any momentum from their recent triumph at Portman Road, and the Saints fell victim to a Ryan Christie masterclass last weekend, as the Bournemouth midfielder delivered a delightful cross for Dango Ouattara to head home before firing in a 20-yard strike of his own.
Kamaldeen Sulemana‘s fine finish gave Southampton hope while Bournemouth took their foot off the gas, but the Cherries belatedly woke up again and restored their two-goal cushion through Marcus Tavernier to leave the nine-points Saints 10 adrift of safety in the Premier League table.
To say that the St Mary’s faithful have had little to cheer in the 2024-25 top flight would be a gross understatement, as Southampton have now suffered a shocking seven home losses in a row in the Premier League; only three teams have ever lost eight on the spin, most recently Watford in 2021-22.
Taking leads has not been where the hosts’ issued have lied this term, but keeping hold of advantages most certainly has been, as they have dropped a whopping 20 points from winning positions in the Premier League campaign, the second-most in the top division behind Tottenham Hotspur’s 21.
© Imago
Such a grim statistic does not bode well against a Brighton side who recovered from a losing position to dump Chelsea out of the FA Cup fourth round, before repeating their Blues trick in much more emphatic fashion when Enzo Maresca‘s side visited again on February 14.
An outrageous Kaoru Mitoma touch and finish kicked off the Seagulls’ slaughter before Yankuba Minteh and Danny Welbeck stole the show, the former benefitting from two assists from the latter to bag a brace for himself and end Brighton’s two-game losing run in the top flight.
Seemingly fully recovered from their 7-0 embarrassment at the hands of Nottingham Forest at the start of the month, Fabian Hurzeler‘s men have consolidated their top-half standing in 10th position in the table, now six points behind recent victims Chelsea in the top six.
However, the Seagulls have tended to fare better against high-ranking teams in the 2024-25 Premier League season, as while they have triumphed in 46% of their matches with sides in the top half, they have only won 25% of games versus clubs in the bottom 10.
Brighton’s struggles versus lower-table teams were laid bare in November’s 1-1 home draw against Southampton, although that stalemate at least extended the Seagulls’ unbeaten run over the Saints to six matches since a 2-1 home loss in December 2020, where a Danny Ings penalty sealed the deal.
Southampton Premier League form:
Southampton form (all competitions):
Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League form:
Brighton & Hove Albion form (all competitions):
Team News
© Imago
Southampton boss Juric had a positive double injury update to share in Thursday’s press conference, confirming that Flynn Downes and Jack Stephens had shaken off knocks and are set to be available for the visit of Brighton.
However, neither Adam Lallana (hamstring) nor Taylor Harwood-Bellis (ankle) are fit to play just yet, while Ryan Fraser (unspecified) and Ross Stewart (calf) are also taking up beds in the treatment room.
Having combined for the Saints’ consolation goal in their loss to Bournemouth, Sulemana and Paul Onuachu – who has now been involved in three goals in his last four Premier League games – should continue up front at the expense of the highly-rated Tyler Dibling.
As for Brighton, Hurzeler is still sweating over Lewis Dunk‘s availability as the skipper battles back from a rib injury, but Pervis Estupinan (unspecified) and Solly March (muscle) could both return.
Jason Steele (shoulder), James Milner (thigh), Igor Julio (thigh) and Ferdi Kadioglu (toe) are four longer-term absentees for the Seagulls, whose head coach will surely see no reason to shuffle the pack after the crushing of Chelsea.
Minteh struck a delightful double despite being shoe-horned into a wing-back role, and the 20-year-old could continue in that unfamiliar slot as Georginio Rutter, Mitoma and Welbeck join forces further up the field.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Bree, Bednarek, Stephens; Sugawara, Aribo, Ugochukwu, Walker-Peters; Fernandes; Sulemana, Onuachu
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Verbruggen; Minteh, Van Hecke, Webster, Veltman, Lamptey; Rutter, Baleba, Hinshelwood, Mitoma; Welbeck
We say: Southampton 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton may be guilty of too many slip-ups against sides whom they would be expected to ease past, but the Seagulls’ poor record versus bottom-10 teams should prove meaningless at St Mary’s.
The visitors have never lost a Premier League game on Southampton’s turf and were irresistible when Chelsea came to town, so they should run into few problems dispatching the basement boys with ease.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
