Kick-off: 2000, 30/01/2021
Stadium: St Mary’s
TV: Sky Sports
Only goal difference separates Southampton and Aston Villa in the Premier League table and there is nothing to split them in the betting for Saturday night’s match.
Both teams have been priced up at 8/5 for the win and although Villa have a game in hand, we think the result looks too hard to call.
Having both conceded three in midweek, we think the goals market is the better option and with November’s meeting producing seven goals, over 2.5 at 8/11 is our opening Southampton vs Aston Villa prediction.
A Look At Southampton’s Betting Odds
Southampton began the year with a home victory against defending champions Liverpool but back-to-back league defeats against Leicester and Arsenal have seen them drop into the bottom half of the table.
Saints beat the Gunners in the fourth round of the FA Cup but it was a very different outcome in the league on Tuesday night as they slumped to a 3-1 loss despite taking a third-minute lead through Stuart Armstrong.
That result means Southampton have won just one of their last seven league games as a small squad struggles under the strain of a condensed fixture list.
First-choice full-backs Ryan Bertrand and Kyle Walker-Peters were ruled out due to suspension and injury respectively and boss Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted Saints need to have more players fit to be able to challenge the bigger sides.
“We are definitely running out of players at the moment, I hope a few are coming back but at the moment it is like it is, this situation is not nice but it is why we shouldn’t be too negative,” he said.
“We have 29 points, we knew such situations could come for us, if we have injuries it certainly hurts us more than the top teams.
“Everyone can look for themselves how much it affected the result today, we conceded two easy goals in the first half.”
There is still plenty of attacking talent available to Hasenhuttl which is why both teams to score in the first half looks worth backing at 14/5 in the Southampton vs Aston Villa odds.
Last Southampton line-up: McCarthy, Stephens, Valery, Vokins, Bednarek, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong, Diallo, Ings, Adams, Walcott.
A Look At Aston Villa’s Betting Odds
Villa will be keen to bounce back quickly from a 3-2 defeat at Burnley, in a game which they controlled for long periods.
Ollie Watkins’ 10th goal of the season put Villa ahead inside the first quarter of an hour but the visitors squandered a number of opportunities before half-time and their profligacy would come back to haunt them.
An unmarked Ben Mee converted a corner and although the excellent Jack Grealish restored Villa’s lead, they were left stunned as Dwight McNeil’s cross-cum-shot trickled into the net before Chris Wood’s header gave Burnley victory.
Villa boss Dean Smith took no solace in being part of a five-goal thriller at Turf Moor, saying: “It’s no consolation at all. The word I would use is disbelief.
“We should have been at least three goals up at half-time and it would have been game over.
“I just said to the players, ‘it’s a difficult league to win in’, but we’ve just thrown three points away with really poor defending and basic errors, really.”
The influential Grealish was on target at Turf Moor and also went close to scoring one of the goals of the season.
Having also found the net in November’s 4-3 defeat versus Saints at Villa Park, we’re backing Grealish to score first at 15/2 as our final Southampton vs Aston Villa prediction.
Last Villa line-up: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, McGinn, Grealish, Barkley, Watkins, Traore.
Additional stats
Last result:
SOUTHAMPTON 1-3 Arsenal – Stuart Armstrong
Burnley 3-2 ASTON VILLA – Ollie Watkins, Jack Grealish
Head-to-head: Villa 3-4 Southampton, Southampton 2-0 Villa, Villa 1-3 Southampton
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