Saturday 27th April, 3pm kick off. St Mary's Stadium Match Officials Referee: Rob Madley Assistants: M Mullarkey and S Bennett 4th official: Phil Dowd Saints welcome West Brom to St Mary's looking to stretch their unbeaten run to 7 matches. West Brom have faded away a bit after a very impressive start to the season, which included beating Saints 2-0 on a VERY cold night in the Midlands. However Saints are a much stronger outfit these days and have become tough to beat, both home and away. Team news Saints have few injury concerns to worry about, unless there are more victims of the virus that spread around the Saints camp recently. Luke Shaw was only on the bench against Swansea but should start on Saturday. I think West Brom also have a near fully fit squad to choose from. Key men Here's my thoughts on the two players who could have a big impact on Saturday: Saints: Jay Rodriguez He was in great form before he was struck down with a virus ahead of the West Ham game. He scored in 3 succesive games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Reading. His pace abd movement is a constant threat to opposing defences and his finishing has improved in the 2nd half of the season as he grew in confidence. West Brom: Romelu Lukaku A fantastic young talent who has had a fine season with West Brom. His progress stalled when he wasn't getting regular game time at Chelsea but he is showing what he can do if he has regular game time. Strong, tall and pacy, he is a constant threat to defenders and Hooiveld and Yoshida will have their work cut out on Saturday. Form guide Saints: DDWWWD Note the lack of red in the Saints form guide. Saints have been in fine form of late, with excellent wins over Liverpool, Chelsea and Reading and well earned points against West Ham and away to Norwich and Swansea West Brom: DLLDWL West Brom have been rather average of late, picking up their only win in the last 6 games against Swansea, with losses at West Ham, Chelsea and at home to Arsenal. They drew with Newcastle last time out.
SOUTHAMPTON vs WEST BROMWICH ALBION Team FormSouthampton: D D W W W D West Brom: D L L D W L Last Time We Met West Brom 2-0 Southampton (Odemwingie 36', 60') West Brom: Foster, Olsson, Ridgewell, McAuley, Jones, Yacob, Dorrans (Brunt - 65'), Mulumbu, Gera, Long (Lukaku - 71'), Odemwingie (Fortune - 83') Southampton: Gazzaniga, Clyne, Yoshida, Fonte, Fox (Shaw - 81'), Schneiderlin, S Davis, Ramirez (Guly - 76'), Lallana, Lambert, Rodriguez (Mayuka - 76') The Table 8) West Brom - 45 9) Swansea - 42 10) West Ham - 42 11) Fulham - 40 12) Southampton - 39 Expected Line-Up Boruc Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Shaw Schneiderlin, Cork Rodriguez, Ramirez, Lallana Lambert Match Prediction Southampton 2-0 West Brom (Lallana, Rodriguez) COYR
We've got two threads, but this one is first. Going for 2.1 or 2.0 Saints, but wouldn't be surprised if we draw. We seem to have tightened up in defence at the expense of scoring.
Its the old Davis or Ramires nutmeg, we are a stronger unit and harder to break down with Davis - yet we are more of a threat with Ramires. Shaw coming back would also boost our threat no end
Are your form guides backwards? I'm sure we've drawn the last two... I'm expecting a win from this game. West Brom are in the 'nothing to play for' category and their recent form reflects that really.
Indeed, I see a lot going in both directions, always seems funny to me as the logical direction to me is left to right, not that it really matters. I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't win this one, West Brom are a decent outfit but no great shakes away from home and they're not in great form.
With my form guides, I do the most recent results first, going from left to right. Seems logical to me.
It's a matter of personal preference. PTF knows we have drawn the last two games anyway, he's just being deliberately pedantic.
Didn't realise that WBA form has dropped off so much..makes me more confident, though we should always remember QPR as my signature says.
I guess it's just personal preference that I read from left to right? Thanks for the sincere answer. Strikes me as odd but I will allow it
To put cat amongst the pigeons...some people would have listed Saints last 5/6 home games and WBA last 5/6 away games.
That's an interesting idea, though I'm not sure 6 home games ago counts as current form anymore, that was three months ago!
Our last 6 home results which start with the draw at Everton are: D, W, W, L, W, D....well done, poch.
They do it the same way here: http://uk.soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league/20122013/regular-season/r17950/ I'm used to seeing it done that way.
