Sunday’s mid-afternoon kick-off finds Southampton and Bournemouth duking it out in the new south coast derby. The Saints are unbeaten in four matches heading into the showdown at St Mary’s Stadium, while the Cherries are reeling after back-to-back 5-1 defeats.
In the last eight Gameweeks, a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Manchester United exists as the only blemish on Southampton’s report card. That being said, only Leicester City have shipped more goals (10) than Ronald Koeman’s men in their quintet of home ties (nine). In fact, Saints rank top for big chances conceded (15) at home, which suggests that the visitors could enjoy their fair share of goalscoring opportunities.
The Cherries rearguard has taken a hammering over the last four Gameweeks, ranking joint-top for goals (13) conceded and first big chances conceded (18). Bournemouth’s road record also makes for grim reading, considering that their defence has been breached on 14 occasions in five away fixtures. Couple this with the fact that Eddie Howe’s men rank bottom for big chances created (three) over the last four Gameweeks and there’s clearly a myriad issues for the manager to address.
