Kick-off: 1500, 11/02/2023
Stadium: St Mary’s Stadium
Southampton fans turned on manager Nathan Jones after last weekend’s defeat at Brentford and their mood is unlikely to improve on Saturday in this relegation battle.
Saints remain rooted to the foot of the table following eight defeats in nine games, but Wolves moved out of the drop zone with an impressive 3-0 victory over Liverpool.
Julen Lopetegui has made a big impact since taking the reins at Molineux and an away win at 33/20 is our first Southampton vs Wolves prediction.
Southampton Odds
Jones vowed to put an end to “compromising his principles” in a feisty post-match interview in west London last weekend.
Goals from Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo five minutes before the break had Saints on the ropes and prompted Jones to go all in with the introduction of new signings Kamaldeen Sulemana and 6ft 7in Nigerian striker Paul Onuachu at half-time.
However, they made limited impact and Southampton’s fate was sealed 10 minutes from time when Mathias Jensen delivered the knockout blow, heading in Rico Henry’s cross which inevitably led to chants of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ from supporters.
Former Luton boss Jones said: “I’ve compromised certain principles because of, one; personnel, but, two; the way people want to play and so on, because of fans and so on.
“I’ve compromised on a few little things, but no more because I’ve been very successful. Now I will live and die by my own philosophy. I’ve gone away from what brought me to this football club and I’m not going to do it again.”
What Jones is planning to do this weekend is anyone’s guess, but he needs to get Saints firing in front of goal again, having failed to score in three of their last four matches.
Only Wolves and Everton have scored fewer goals than Southampton’s 17 this season, so a third 1-0 defeat in four meetings with Saturday’s opponents catches the eye at 13/2, bearing in mind that was the outcome in their last two home games against Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.
Wolves have also won the last four matches against Southampton and three of them came by a one-goal margin of victory.
That outcome seems plausible once again at 31/10 as the next of Saturday’s Southampton vs Wolves betting tips.
Last Southampton line-up: Bazunu, Perraud, Salisu, Bednarek, Bree, Lavia, Diallo, Elyounoussi, Ward-Prowse, Edozie, Adams.
January signings Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana could be in line to start for Southampton after making their debuts off the bench last weekend. The game could come too soon for Kyle Walker-Peters and Stuart Armstrong, while Juan Larios is expected to remain sidelined.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Odds
Wolves scored three goals for the first time in 11 months with last week’s victory over the Reds, which prompted Lopetegui to admit there was “a good feeling” within the camp.
The Spaniard brought in six new players during the January transfer window and although strikers Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha failed to score, they played key roles in the first two goals, which came in the opening 12 minutes.
They certainly did not look like a team with relegation worries, although Lopetegui was keen to emphasise that his players had not achieved anything with the win at Molineux.
He said: “It’s easier to go to work the next day, but you have to be ready to go to work the next day with energy when you win and when you’ve lost.
“This is football. It’s going to be a very long and hard race until the end, today we are happy, tomorrow we continue.”
“In the end, they’re three points, we haven’t done anything; in front of us we have very hard work.”
Hwang Hee-chan suffered a hamstring injury during the game which will leave him on the sidelines for several weeks and his replacement Adama Traore is likely to start this weekend.
His pace will prove a threat down the right-hand side and Sarabia can benefit from his service by scoring at any time at 11/4 in the Southampton vs Wolves odds.
Sarabia failed to score in a star-studded PSG team this season, but bagged 19 goals for Sporting Lisbon in all competitions before his move to Paris and regularly found the net for Spain in World Cup qualifying and the Nations League, so is clearly a class act.
Last Wolves line-up: Sa, Alt-Nouri, Kilman, Dawson, Semedo, Nunes, Lemina, Neves, Hwang, Cunha, Sarabia.
Sasa Kalajdzic (knee), Boubacar Traore (groin) and Pedro Neto (ankle) all remain sidelined.
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