Football Results

In the first match of the 29th round of English Premier League that we are going to analyse 16th-placed Southampton meets next-to-last Stoke. Both teams struggle to survive and the home team has one point more at the moment. Southampton and Stoke won in previous round very valuable away victories, while their match played last autumn had ended as Stoke home victory 2-1.

Southampton

Before that both teams were far more successful outside their stadiums and for example the Saints have been waiting for home victory over Stoke for more than four years. Besides, they will have an additional motive for Saturday’s match as if they win they could escape from Stoke to four-point difference, while on the other hand they would make their fans happy after a prolonged break given they didn’t win at home in the league since November last year.

Since they won only West Bromwich away in the same period it is not surprising that Southampton is currently positioned in the danger zone and has the same number of points like 18th-placed Swansea. On the other hand, Southampton was far more successful in the FA Cup and it reached the quarter-finals after eliminating West Bromwich. Last weekend they managed to pull draw 1-1 from difficult away match with Burnley. Let’s add that due to injuries the Saturday’s match should skip stopper Yoshida, midfielder Davis, and forward Austin and Long.

Probable lineups Southampton: McCarthy – Soares, Stephens, Hoedt, Bertrand – Romeu, Lemina – Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Redmond – Carrillo

Stoke

The guests from Stoke are under even bigger pressure ahead of the Saturday’s match, as they moved down to the next-to-last place in the table after the latest four-game winless streak of three draws and one defeat, although they have just one point fewer than Southampton, Crystal Palace and Swansea. At the same time, last placed West Bromwich lags behind them for even six points, but Stoke is far more interested in what is going on above time and by that this match with direct competitor is really important for them.

Manager Lambert players won a very valuable point last weekend when they met Leicester. They are definitely sorry for not winning all three points as they had a lead of 1-0 till 70 minute when goalkeeper Butland scored an own goal. However, the most important thing is that Stoke didn’t lose again and now will face the Saints being far more self-confident. Out of action are injured stopper Shawcross, midfielders Fletcher and Ireland, and forward Crouch.

Probable lineups Stoke: Butland – Bauer, Zouma, Martins Indi, Stafylidis – Cameron, Ndiaye – Shaqiri, Allen, Choupo-Moting – Diouf

Verdict:

Regardless that is the most important for both teams to avoid losing direct showdown in the survival race we nevertheless believe that both will play fairly offensively and with an aim to win all three points, which is why we have decided to play on goals on both sides.

Pick:  both teams to score 1.95 - 95/100 @1XBet