In-form Southampton will travel to Villa Park on Saturday to take on Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Venue: Villa Park (Birmingham)
Key Statistics
Aston Villa have won just one of their last 11 H2H matches with Southampton (D3, L7).
The hosts are winless in their last four games at home (D2, L2).
Philippe Coutinho has scored six of his last seven club goals at home.
Southampton have now netted in ten straight PL games – only league leaders Manchester City are on a better scoring run (17 games)
They have won only 13 of their 35 points away from home.
The visitors are unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions (W5, D2).
Head to head
Southampton have a good record against Aston Villa in the Premier League. The Saints are undefeated in six visits to Villa Park (W4, D2).
In 39 PL meetings, Southampton have 16 wins while Villa have 14 wins (9).
Latest performances in all competitions
Aston Villa: W-L-L-D-W
Southampton: W-W-W-D-W
Aston Villa
After a run of one win in seven games, Aston Villa finally got a league win last time out as they beat Brighton 2-0.
In an exciting game at the Amex Stadium, goals from Matty Cash and Ollie Watkins were enough to give Steven Gerrard’s men all three points, ending a run of three games without a win (D1, L2).
The hosts will now look to build on that win against a Southampton side that are flying at the moment. However, their form at home will not inspire confidence going into this tie.
Gerrard’s men have won just one of their last six home games, losing three and drawing two over that time.
They come into this to tie sitting in 13th place, nine points ahead of 18th-placed Burnley. After a decent run in Gerrard’s first five games at the club, most were expecting the ‘Villans’ to mount a late push for a top-seven finish. But ahead of this round of games, they are sat 12 points behind the top seven.
So the talk of a top-seven finish is no longer on the agenda. Rather, they will now look to finish as high up the table as possible. A win in this game will therefore be a must for them.
Meanwhile Marvelous Nakamba and Bertrand Traore are the only injury absentees for Gerrard.
Possible Aston Villa starting line-up
Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Callum Chambers, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne; John McGinn, David Luiz, Jacob Ramsey; Emi Buendia, Ollie Watkins, Philippe Coutinho.
Injured: Marvelous Nakamba and Bertrand Traore
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Southampton
Southampton will look to continue their impressive run of form when they travel to Birmingham on Saturday.
The Saints enjoyed a remarkable month of February, winning all but one of the seven games they played in the month. Their only dropped points in that period was in a 1-1 draw with Manchester City in the Premier League.
They come into this tie on the back of a 3-1 win over West Ham in the FA Cup. The win was secured by goals from Stuart Armstrong, James Ward-Prowse and Armando Broja and has qualified them for the next round of the FA Cup where they will host Manchester City.
In the league, they are currently sitting in ninth place, seven points behind seventh-placed Tottenham having played a game more.
Given their form, they are now in the conversation about a top-seven finish. A win in this game keeps that conversation going as the season approaches its business end.
Meanwhile, Ralph Hasenhüttl will be without Brazilian player Lyanco (muscle injury) and goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (muscle injury) for this tie. Nathan Telles is also an injury doubt after suffering a groin injury recently.
Possible Southampton starting line-up
Fraser Forster; Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Mohammed Salisu, Romain Perraud; Stuart Armstrong, James Ward-Prowse, Oriol Romeu, Mohamed Elyounoussi; Che Adams, Armando Broja.
Injured: Lyanco, Alex McCarthy
Doubtful: Nathan Telles
Suspended: None
Prediction
Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton
