Will the bottom team be a stumbling block for the Saints?
While there are catch-up games scheduled throughout England, the Premier League table continues to show a very lopsided picture with a varying number of games. The 27th matchday is scheduled for the last weekend in February, opening already on Friday evening in the south of England. Southampton and Norwich face each other at St. Mary’s Stadium.
A duel in which the hosts are seen as clear favourites. The Hasenhüttl eleven has been in very strong form for weeks and could even climb to a single-digit place in the table with a home win on Friday. The promoted Norwich side are currently bottom of the Premier League and are already five points off the bottom of the table. Smith’s team is gradually putting its back to the wall. Points would be desperately needed on Friday, but Southampton vs. Norwich betting odds of up to 6.00 are being offered for a visitors win.
In fact, an away win for the Canaries would be a big surprise, as Southampton present themselves as hard to beat, especially at home, and have only suffered one defeat. Friday night’s match kicks off at 9pm.
Southampton – Statistics & current form
Although the Saints have not won any of their first seven league games, Hasenhüttl’s eleven have not been in a relegation spot at any point this season. The fear of relegation, however, was certainly present at the beginning of the season, but there is now no sign of it. In recent weeks and months, the Saints have been in very strong form and with a better start to the season, the club might even be flirting with Europe.
Two defeats in twelve games
This strong form is underlined by a look at recent results. The team conceded five of the seven defeats in the first 13 matchdays, in the last twelve matchdays the Saints only had to leave the field twice as losers. The team is particularly strong at home and the home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers (26 September) was the only home defeat. Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Leicester all lost at St Mary’s Stadium. Accordingly, when it comes to Southampton v Norwich, the low odds on the home win are perfectly understandable.
Thank god it’s friday
TGIF – Thank God it’s Friday! The first few hours of the weekend have not been positive for Southampton fans for a long time when their team has been in action. Only one of the first eight Premier League games on Friday have been won by the Saints, but more recently the team have become comfortable with this day of the week. Of their most recent four Friday night games, Southampton have left the field victorious on three occasions (one draw). Among other victories at this stage in 2019/20 was a Friday night win against Norwich.
In terms of personnel, Ralph Hasenhüttl will not make any major changes from last weekend’s game. The strong results do not give reason for changes, moreover goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, Lyanco and Romain Perraud are still injured and not available.
Predicted Southampton line-up:
Forster – Walker-Peters, Salisu, Bednarek, Livramento – Elyounoussi, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Stuart Armstrong – Broja, Che Adams
Last matches played by Southampton:
Premier League
02/19 2022 – Southampton 2 – 0 Everton
02/12 2022 – Manchester United 1 – 1 Southampton
02/09 2022 – Tottenham 2 – 3 Southampton
FA Cup
02/05 2022 – Southampton 2 – 1 Coventry
Premier League
01/22 2022 – Southampton 1 – 1 Manchester City
Norwich – Statistics & current form
Too good for the Championship but too weak for the Premier League? Norwich City are on the verge of confirming this thesis once again. After last season’s commanding promotion, the team has failed to convince one tier further up, despite large-scale investments. The season had many lows, but also short-lived highs. Long losing streaks were interrupted by a brief run of highs (eight points from four games and seven points from three games). Most recently, however, Smith’s side have lost twice
Offensive shows improvement
These two defeats are somewhat put into perspective in view of the opponents, because with Manchester City and Liverpool, the Smith eleven met the two big dominators this season. In the 3-1 defeat to the in-form Reds, former Bremen man Milot Rashica became the first Kosovar goalscorer in the English Premier League. With now three scorer points (one goal, two assists) Rashica is second in the internal scorer list. Only Teemu Pukki (six goals, one assist) is ahead of him. For Norwich, the goal against the Reds was only the 15th goal of the season in the 26th league game.
Thus, the big weakness is also quickly apparent, because the offensive game is greatly in need of improvement. In recent weeks, however, the attack has been more pleasing, as seven goals have been scored in the last five games. Given these figures, betting on both teams to score is definitely an option for Southampton against Norwich. For the difficult mission of staying in the league, the offensive must continue to improve. So far, the promoted team has only 70 shots on goal, the lowest number of all 20 Premier League teams.
Predicted Norwich line-up:
Gunn – Williams, Gibson, Hanley, Aarons – Gilmour, Normann, McLean – Rashica, Pukki, Sargent
Last matches played by Norwich:
Premier League
02/19 2022 – Liverpool FC 3 – 1 Norwich
02/12 2022 – Norwich 0 – 4 Manchester City
02/09 2022 – Norwich 1 – 1 Crystal Palace
FA Cup
02/05 2022 – Wolverhampton 0 – 1 Norwich
Premier League
01/21 2022 – Watford 0 – 3 Norwich
Southampton – Norwich Direct comparison / H2H record
In the last short Premier League intermezzo of the Canaries from Norwich, the team remained without success in both games against Southampton. In that respect, the current season is already much more successful, as Norwich City managed an important 2-1 home win against the Saints (was also Dean Smith’s debut as Norwich coach) despite an early deficit in the first leg. However, Norwich have only won five of their 44 away appearances in their long history (most recently in the 2007/08 Championship season). In the Premier League, Southampton have lost only one of their last eight games against the Canaries.
Southampton – Norwich Tip
Intermittently things were looking up again for the Canaries, but recently the Smith eleven was brought back down to earth. Away from home against a team in very good form (only one defeat in eleven games), who are especially difficult to beat at home, the stakes are high. On the winning side, the prediction on Southampton against Norwich is absolutely obvious on the home side.
There are plenty of arguments in favour of a home win on Friday. The visitors have their backs against the wall and Wednesday’s Burnley win over Tottenham exacerbates that situation. The Smith eleven must play forward themselves and take more risks in order not to lose sight of the saving bank. This situation, coupled with the fact that more goals have been scored recently, means that Southampton are predicted to score against Norwich.
