Southampton welcome Everton to St Mary's on Saturday, with the hosts seeking to avoid a third successive Premier League defeat.
The Toffees, meanwhile, head into this contest after picking up their first three points of the season against West Ham United last time out.
Match preview
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Since securing an impressive 2-1 victory at home to Chelsea, Southampton have suffered back-to-back 1-0 away defeats against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa, losing to the latter just before the international break.
Both goals were conceded in the closing stages of the first half, with Villa's Jacob Ramsey netting in the 41st minute to condemn the Saints to their fourth defeat from seven league matches this season.
Ralph Hasenhuttl's side are three points better off compared to this stage last season, but a run of three defeats in their last four has seen them slip to 14th in the table, three points above the relegation zone.
Southampton are one of only two teams, along with basement club Leicester City, who are yet to keep a clean sheet so far this season and they have conceded the opening goal in more Premier League games than any other team (six) this term. The Saints have also registered only two of their last 19 shots on target and have failed to score in the process, so Hasenhuttl will be keen to see improvements at both ends of the pitch in the coming weeks.
A home encounter against Everton this weekend seemingly comes at a good time for Southampton, who have won their last two meetings against the Toffees at St Mary's by a 2-0 scoreline.
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Following a winless six-game run at the start of the season, including four successive draws, Everton finally opened their account for the 2022-23 campaign with a slender 1-0 home victory against West Ham United.
Summer signing Neal Maupay scored his first goal for the club eight minutes after half time to help the Toffees climb up to 13th in the table and three points above the drop zone.
Similarly to Saturday's opponents Southampton, Frank Lampard's men have struggled to pose a consistent threat in front of goal, with Maupay's strike last time out just their fifth goal of the season – only Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham (both three) have scored fewer this term.
However, Everton deserve credit for their recent defensive displays as they have kept a clean sheet in their last two matches against West Ham and Liverpool – the last time that the Toffees went three successive Premier League games without conceding was in March 2021, a run which included a 1-0 win over Southampton.
Victories away from home have been hard to come by for Everton as they have picked up maximum points in only one of their last 20 Premier League matches on the road. The Merseysiders have also won only one of their previous six visits to St Mary's, so they will need to be on top of their game if they wish to come out on top this weekend.
Team News
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Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia and right-back Valentino Livramento both remain sidelined with respective muscle and ACL injuries, although the former is closing in on a return to training.
Fresh from making their international debuts for Germany and Ghana respectively, Armel Bella-Kotchap and Mohammed Salisu are set to retain their partnership at centre-back, with Kyle Walker-Peters and Romain Perraud operating as full-backs.
After scoring two goals in three England Under-20 appearances over the international break, Sam Edozie will be pushing to start his first game for the Saints since joining from Manchester City in the summer, and the teenage winger could replace either Mohamed Elyounoussi or Adam Armstrong in the first XI.
As for Everton, Nathan Patterson is ruled out for up to five weeks with an ankle injury sustained on international duty with Scotland, and Seamus Coleman is now expected to take his place at right-back.
Patterson has joined Mason Holgate (knee), Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina (both ankle) and Andros Townsend on the treatment table.
The Toffees will been boosted by the return of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who is set to replace Asmir Begovic between the sticks after recovering from injury, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin could also be involved in the matchday squad following a spell on the sidelines.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bella-Kotchap, Salisu, Perraud; Ward-Prowse, Diallo; Djenepo, Aribo, Edozie; Adams
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Coleman, Coady, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Gueye, Onana, Iwobi; Gray, Maupay, Gordon
We say: Southampton 1-1 Everton
Both teams will fancy their chances of claiming maximum points as they bid to finish the weekend inside the top half of the table.
However, a closely-fought contest could be on the cards at St Mary's and with little to separate them, we feel that they may have to settle for a share of the spoils on this occasion.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
