2 weeks Ago By Alfie Cairns Culshaw
Southampton host Ipswich Town at St. Mary's tomorrow afternoon, as both sides look for their first victory of the new Premier League season at the fifth attempt, with BBC Sport Pundit Alan Shearer predicting that the away side will attain that elusive win. The Saints have endured a difficult start to the campaign, suffering four defeats from their opening four league games, although they did manage to scrape past Everton on penalties in mid-week in the EFL Cup.
Meanwhile, fellow newly promoted side Ipswich have fared marginally better than their counterparts, securing well-earned draws against Fulham and Brighton after suffering defeats against Liverpool and Manchester City . In what is shaping up as an early season relegation 'six-pointer' and fascinating encounter, Russell Martin and Kieran McKenna will be desperate for their teams to get off the mark in the win column. Shearer: Southampton Will Struggle This Season With neither side fancied to retain their Premier League status for next season, games against other teams expected to be lingering toward the bottom of the table come May are pivotal.
The south coast outfit have been given a '1,000,000% chance' of being relegated in the media, while the Tractor Boys are enjoying their first top flight campaign since the 2001/02 season, so expectations aren't high. Writing in his Premier League predictions for this weekend for the Metro , the former Saints striker tipped the away side to take all three points at St. Mary's : 'This game is very much like Leicester v Everton, huge for both teams.
Out of the promoted teams, I think Ipswich have probably given themselves the best chance of survival, and I’ve not liked what I’ve seen from Southampton in front of goal. They’ve had a lot of possession, a lot of chances and missed the penalty against Man United. They were impressive for 30 minutes, but missing the penalty was a game changer.
'When you have chances against any club at Premier League level, they’re few and far between, especially when you’re a newly promoted team, so you have to take them. It was a weird situation because Brereton-Diaz has taken and scored nine penalties, yet Cameron Archer has never scored a penalty, and he was given the task of taking it. Southampton will struggle this season because of a lack of goals.
'Away win.' Managerial Record Statistical Comparison Stat Martin McKenna Matches Managed 239 136 Wins 99 76 Draws 54 37 Losses 86 23 Win Percentage 41% 56% Southampton Teenager on Man Utd's Radar A shining light for Southampton in their 3-0 defeat to Manchester United last time out was the performance of 18-year-old winger Tyler Dibling. The starlet won a penalty during the game which Cameron Archer failed to convert, while Peter Crouch described his display as 'fantastic' .
However, such is the nature of the Saints' fortunes at the moment, it's been revealed that United's sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a huge admirer of Dibling, and that the teenage prodigy is on the Red Devils' radar . It's understood that Ashworth will look to pursuade the youngster to swap the south coast for the north-west in an upcoming transfer window. All Statistics via TransferMarkt - correct as of 20/09/2024.
