Football – England – Premier League
Monday 24th November 2014 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
Monday night brings us the last of the Premiership fixtures for this weekend as hosts Aston Villa attempt to stop high-flying Southampton in their tracks at Villa Park.
This will be no easy task for the midlanders as they themselves have been in a bit of a rut the last couple of months as Villa have failed to win in their last seven Premier League matches, losing six of these while taking a point away at West Ham before the international break.
Aston Villa’s key problem this season though has been scoring goals and they’re currently the league’s lowest goalscorers with just 5 to their name so far this term, and this has been the catalyst to their current poor league standing of 16th place. Villa’s overall home record stands at a disappointing 1-1-3 3/8 and they’ve lost their last three on the trot at home with defeats to Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham.
In-form Southampton make their way up to the midlands on the back of five straight wins in all competitions (four in the Premier League along with the Capital One Cup win at Stoke City), as they look to close the four point deficit on Premier League leaders Chelsea.
Even the staunchest of Saints fans couldn’t have predicted such a great start to the new Premiership season for the south coast club particularly given the number of high profile players that left the club during the summer months – players such as striker Rickie Lambert, midfielder Adam Lallana and defender Dejan Lovren (all of whom defected to Liverpool) seemed set to rip the club apart.
But new manager Ronald Koeman put an end to the transfer dealings at St Marys Stadium and the players that have stayed have certainly gelled along with new signings Graziano Pelle up front and midfield play-maker Dusan Tadic adding an extra dimension.
Southampton’s away record stands at 3-0-2 6/4 which may not appear to be too impressive at first glance, but the Saints have won three of their last four on the road with wins at West Ham, Swansea City and Hull City.
With Aston Villa’s reluctance in front of goal and Southampton’s building momentum and confidence under manager Koeman, I’ll back the visitors to take the points here in what could be a 2-1 win for the Saints.
Pick: Southampton straight win @ 1.80 Coral
