Southampton vs Bournemouth Prediction & Betting Tips - Premier League

Prediction published on 15/09/2019, 22:05  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/09/2019 at 15:46 in Premier League Predictions

Both Southampton and Bournemouth will be aiming to win back-to-back Premier League games for the first time this season when they face off in a south-coast battle at St. Mary’s on Saturday night. Having won two of out of three games in the run up to the international break, the Saints picked up where they left off when club football resumed at the weekend, battling their way to a narrow 1-0 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. The result secured Southampton’s second clean sheet inside three Premier League contests, though the fact that they kept two of the division’s least prolific teams out inside that trio of games (Brighton and Sheffield United) is worth noting. Bournemouth recorded an impressive 3-1 win over Everton at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday, in a result that helped to maintain what has been an early unbroken goal-laden sequence of Cherries league fixtures. Over 2.5 goals were scored in 100% of Bournemouth’s last four Premier League games – in fact, both teams scored in each contest and an average of 3.75 goals were scored per 90 minutes of action. Bournemouth were also one of the league’s most entertaining teams last season. A minimum of three goals were scored in 63% of their 38 Premier League matches in 2018/19, and it looks as though the Cherries haven’t lost any of their ability to thrill over the summer. We expect their latest Premier League tussle on Friday to reach similar excitement levels. Remarkably, both Southampton (15) and Bournemouth (15.2) rank 5th and 6th highest respectively for average shots conceded per game to date in 2019/20 – figures that tell us that both defences offer up chances to score at noticeably high rate. While most of Southampton’s opponents so far this season lacked the quality in the final third to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them, Bournemouth have no such deficiencies up front. Bournemouth’s talented front-line breached Southampton’s defences to score three times when the clubs last met at St. Mary’s as recently as April 27th, in an end-to-end skirmish that eventually finished 3-3. The high-scoring encounter kicked off a string of entertaining Premier League away fixtures for Bournemouth, where an average of four goals were scored per game. Over 2.5 goals hit the net and both teams scored in seven of those eight matches, and the statistics scream that we should expect a similar outcome when Southampton meet Bournemouth on Saturday.