@ZAPunter provides his betting tips for the English Premier League match between Bournemouth and Southampton which takes place on Friday 20th September
SOUTHAMPTON VS BOURNEMOUTH, FRIDAY @ 21.00
Week 6 of the Premier League gets underway with a South Coast derby on Friday evening as the Saints welcome the Cherries to St. Mary’s. Nothing separates these teams as they are level on points and even goal difference, so this should be a tough game on Friday. Southampton had an excellent win last weekend away at Sheffield United, with new signing Djenepo once again getting on the score sheet. Their defence deserves the biggest credit, as the Blades launched attack after attack, but the Saints managed to sneak away with all 3 points. Bournemouth recorded a 3-1 victory at home vs Everton the same weekend and were very clinical in front of goals compared to the Toffees. They have a number of exciting players going forward and Friday night’s game will be decided on their ability to break down the high on confidence Southampton defence.
SOUTHAMPTON:
Saints fans must have been fearing for the worst after they lost their opening 2 matches this season, however Hasenhuttl turned things around and they are unbeaten in their last 4 matches going into Fridays match. This run included 2 away Premier League victories without conceding a goal and a respectable draw at home against Manchester United. Victory on Friday night will see the Saints climb to 3rd in the table, level on points with Man City. Hasenhuttl will know that victory against the Cherries will be important, as they face a number of teams in succession who finished in the top 10 after Friday night. Southampton xGf is 1.63 and xGa 1.51, based on that the Saints should have scored more goals, but also conceded more. There is potential that we will see more goals in the future when Southampton is playing. Remond will once again be missing for the Saints and he has been the stand out performer under Hasenhuttl with 7 goals and 4 assists.
BOURNEMOUTH:
A first home win since April was the perfect warm up for the Cherries going into the South Coast derby, but they have never won away at Southampton in the Premier League. Bournemouth under Howe has once again been very entertaining to watch this season and will feel confident ahead of their game against the Saints. Cook came back last weekend and what a difference he made for them. Going forward they rarely have any problems and have scored in every game this season, but defensively they always seem to struggle and concede too much. Bournemouth’s xGf is 1.46 and xGa 2.11, the goals against number will be worrying for Howe and the Cherries will need something to change drastically otherwise they will be in trouble. No new injuries for the Cherries, but they are still without a number of key players, especially exciting young Welsh midfielder Brooks.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS:
Southampton: 3-4-2-1
Gunn,
Bednarek, Yoshida, Vestergaard,
Cedric, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Djenepo,
Ward-Prowse, Boufal,
Adams.
Bournemouth: 4-4-2
Ramsdale,
Stacey, Cook, Ake, Rico,
Wilson, Billing, Cook, Fraser,
King, Wilson.
PREDICTION:
Statistical and trends punters will be all over Southampton in this fixture: Southampton hasn’t lost to Bournemouth at home in the league, Southampton have at least scored 2 goals in their last 5 matches against Bournemouth and the Cherries are still conceding goals for fun. Personally, statistics and trends is in the past and all we have now is 90min of football. Southampton haven’t dominated any of the games they have won and it always seemed that they were defending most of the time. Their victories came against teams that don’t have the attacking abilities of Bournemouth, the Cherries passing football and pace on the counter attack will cause all sorts of problems for the Saints. Wilson has really impressed me since he arrived on loan from Liverpool and with Cook is one of the most underrated midfielders in England. Southampton face BITTER rivals Portsmouth on Tuesday and for people who might not know, this is a massive game even though these teams are leagues apart. They haven’t played each other in 7 years and it’s already the talk of both cities. Travelling to Fratton Park will already be on the minds of players and fans, so they might already be looking ahead to next week. There is a real hate between Pompey and Saints, so if you ask any fan they would say that beating each other is more important than any match. Backing Bournemouth not to lose is they play I’m going with here. Come on you Cherries!
BETTING:
Bournemouth Double Chance – 1.78 @ BetOlimp
Premier League Record: 12-8 (+6.39 U)
Best Bet Record: 5-0 (+7.41 U)
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change
@ZAPunter
