Looking to record a third straight home win, Southampton host West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday. Get set for the showdown at St Mary's with our Match Pack, in association with eToro...
THE MATCH
Southampton vs West Ham
Premier League
St Mary’s
Saturday 14th December, 5.30pm GMT
THE OFFICIALS
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Lee Betts, Daniel Cook
Fourth Official: Robert Jones
VAR: Jonathan Moss
Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Saints will be looking to carry on where they left off at home, targeting a third successive win at St Mary’s after recent victories over Watford and Norwich.
With the home crowd accustomed to cliched six pointers in recent weeks, it’s a similar scenario on Saturday, with West Ham sitting two places and just one point above Southampton after an alarming slide towards the Premier League basement.
Potentially soaring as high as 14th depending on results elsewhere, there’s plenty of incentive for Saints to end their final home fixture of the year on a high.
TEAM NEWS
Ralph Hasenhüttl has ruled Yan Valery out of Saturday's Premier League meeting with West Ham United, but is hopeful that both Stuart Armstrong and Sofiane Boufal will be fit enough to feature.
Valery is suffering with a virus, the manager confirmed, while Armstrong has been missing since the 2-2 draw with Arsenal, as he continues to nurse a hamstring problem.
Boufal has played cameo roles in two of Southampton's last three Premier League encounters, but is on a reduced training timetable after sustaining a toe injury.
For West Ham, Manuel Pellegrini will certainly be without Lukasz Fabianski, Manuel Lanzini and Jack Wilshire. Aaron Cresswell and Andriy Yarmolenko have both trained after knocks, meaning they’re likely to feature.
FORM GUIDE
Southampton:
Newcastle (a) 1-2 (Ings)
Norwich (h) 2-1 (Ings, Bertrand)
Watford (h) 2-1 (Ings, Ward-Prowse)
Arsenal (a) 2-2 (Ings, Ward-Prowse)
Everton (h) 1-2 (Ings)
West Ham:
Arsenal (h) 1-3 (Ogbonna)
Wolves (a) 0-2
Chelsea (a) 1-0 (Cresswell)
Tottenham (h) 2-3 (Antonio, Ogbonna)
Burnley (a) 0-3
THE MANAGERS
Ralph Hasenhüttl: “In our situation, every game is very important. It’s always important to take points.
“We had a good run before the Newcastle game and we played there with a lot of self-confidence, but the last game was really hurting because we could have taken more than no points.
“We had a good chance on a difficult ground to take something. I think our performances are improving at the moment. We are playing better than we were a few weeks before.
The two good results in the home games helped us massively and now we have another home game. The self-confidence at home is also coming back but we know that West Ham is also a very difficult opponent.”
Manuel Pellegrini: “Well of course all of us know we need the results. We have just five points from the last nine games.
"We need to return to being a consistent and solid team in the way we did against Chelsea and for 60-65 minutes against Arsenal. The points that we have are not enough for this team.
"I think that lots of teams in this league have had bad runs. [Southampton are a] good team with good players as all the other teams in the Premier League, and you must be very concentrated in defending and try to score as well."
ONES TO WATCH
Danny Ings: Scoring in a fifth consecutive Premier League match at Newcastle last weekend, Ings joined James Beattie and Matt Le Tissier as only the third player to do so for Saints.
Aiming to move into a class of his own with a goal against the Hammers, the striker’s form has been key to Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side collecting seven points from their last four games.
Mark Noble: Despite defeat against the Gunners, West Ham’s captain put in a strong performance in the middle of the park.
Offering a box-to-box presence and wearing his heart on his sleeve, Noble’s input will be key should the Hammers succeed in turning their current run of form around.
TOP PERFORMERS
Southampton:
Goals:
Danny Ings 11
James Ward-Prowse 4
Moussa Djenepo 2
Assists:
James Ward-Prowse 3
Danny Ings 3
Sofiane Boufal 3
West Ham:
Goals:
Sébastien Haller 4
Aaron Cresswell 3
Andriy Yarmolenko 3
Assists:
Felipe Anderson 4
Pablo Fornals 2
Manuel Lanzini 2
HEAD TO HEAD
Played - 107
Saints - 30
Draws - 34
West Ham – 43
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
May 2019: West Ham 3-0 Saints
December 2018: Saints 1-2 West Ham (Redmond)
March 2018: West Ham 3-0 Saints
August 2017: Saints 3-2 West Ham (Gabbiadini, Tadić, Austin)
February 2017: Saints 1-3 West Ham (Gabbiadini)
DID YOU KNOW?
- Southampton’s last 13 Premier League goals have been scored by English players – excluding own goals, the last team to have a longer run of English goal scorers in the competition was Swansea City between October 2011-January 2012 (14).
- Only Aston Villa (13) have dropped more points from winning positions than West Ham (12) in the Premier League this season. Indeed, the 12 points West Ham have dropped is as many as they lost from ahead in the whole of 2018/19.
- West Ham haven’t opened the scoring in any of their last 15 Premier League visits to Southampton, since a 1-1 draw in March 1995.
NOT AT THE GAME?
There’s nothing to worry about if you can’t make it to St Mary’s, because we’ve got you covered! Across our channels we’ll bring you all the action, as well as a host of behind-the-scenes access.
Check out our interactive match centre at southamptonfc.com, with all of the live in-game updates and free audio commentary of the match, and be sure to follow us on social media for further updates and exclusive content:
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