The Eagles head to the South Coast this weekend looking to make it a hat-trick of wins since the return of Roy Hodgson and more importantly, going a long way to securing safety with plenty of football left to play.
TIME/ DATE/ VENUE
- 3pm
- 15th April 2023
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St Mary’s Stadium, Britannia Road, Southampton SO14 5FP
PREVIOUS MEETING
It was April last year that the Eagles made their last trip to St Mary’s. The game did not start well at all as the hosts took a very early lead through Oriol Romeu, but Palace found their way back into it with an equalizer shortly after the break thanks to Eberechi Eze. Just as the game was looking like heading or a draw, Wilfried Zaha popped up with the winner in injury time.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Oriol Romeu (8.4)
OFFICIALS
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Referee: Michael Oliver
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Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
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Fourth official: Keith Stroud
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VAR: David Coote
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Assistant VAR: Simon Long
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Wilfired Zaha and Vicente Guaita are out through injury while Nathan Ferguson closes in on a return but this game looks to be too early for him to feature. Odsonne Edouard and Chris Richards could face late fitness tests.
SOUTHAMPTON – Valentino Livramento continues to be a big miss, while Che Adams, Juan Larios and Mohamed Salisu are both expected to be absent through injury.
DISCIPLINARY THIS SEASON
RED CARDS – Tyrick Mitchell (1), James Tomkins (1), Cheick Doucoure (1)
YELLOW CARDS (6+) – Cheick Doucoure (9), Marc Guehi (8), Joachim Andersen (6), Romeo Lavia (6)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 07/01/23 Palace 1-2 Southampton
- 29/10/22 Palace 1-0 Southampton
- 30/04/22 Southampton 1-2 Palace
- 15/12/21 Palace 2-2 Southampton
- 11/05/21 Southampton 3-1 Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 09/04/23 Leeds 1-5 Palace
- 01/04/23 Palace 2-1 Leicester
- 19/03/23 Arsenal 4-1 Palace
- 15/03/23 Brighton 1-0 Palace
- 11/03/23 Palace 0-1 Manchester City
- 04/03/23 Villa 1-0 Palace
Last FIVE results for Southampton;
- 08/04/23 Southampton 1-4 Manchester City
- 02/04/23 West Ham 1-0 Southampton
- 18/03/23 Southampton 3-3 Tottenham
- 15/03/23 Southampton 0-2 Brentford
- 12/03/23 Manchester United 0-0 Southampton
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 12th in the Premier League with 33 points from 30 games played while Southampton are 20th with 23 points from the same games.
RECORD AGAINST SOUTHAMPTON
- Played 96
- Won 32
- Drawn 19
- Lost 45
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- James Ward-Prowse 6.96
- Michael Olise 6.92
- Eberechi Eze 6.87
- Mohamed Salisu 6.78
ONE TO WATCH
JAMES WARD-PROWSE
FORMER CLUBS – East Lodge
The 28-year-old continues to be key to the Saints survival this season but time is starting to run out. Given the space and the time he will be dangerous and free kicks around the edge of the box must be very few and far between in order to keep him quiet.
KEY CLASH
CHEICK DOUCOURE v JAMES WARD-PROWSE
This will be quite a battle in the middle of the pitch with the Palace main beginning to acclimatise to life in the Premier League. He has not been booked for the last couple of games which suggest Roy Hodgson’s calming influence has been a real positive for him.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- Only against Spurs (9) has James Ward-Prowse been involved in more Premier League goals against a side than Palace (6 – 3 goals, 3 assists).
- Southampton are winless in their past 3 Premier League games against Palace (D1 L2) since winning 3-1 in May 2021.
- Palace have recovered a league-high 20 points from losing positions this season, only ever recovering more in a Premier League campaign in 2014-15 (21). The Eagles have won both of their league games since Roy Hodgson’s return to the club despite going 1-0 behind; no manager in Premier League history has ever won his first three games of a spell with the club despite falling behind in all three.
- Jordan Ayew has already been involved in more goals for Palace under Roy Hodgson this season (3 – 2 goals, 1 assist), than he was under Patrick Vieira (2 – 1 goal, 1 assist). With 32 goals and 17 assists overall in the Premier League, he could become the 16th different African player to record 50 goal involvements in the competition, and the first from Ghana.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Wilfried Zaha (6)
- ASSISTS – Michael Olise (8 – 4th in PL)
- PASSES – Marc Guehi (1650 – 12th in PL)
- TACKLES – Cheick Doucoure (69 – 7th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Marc Guehi (2003 – 18th in PL)
- SHOTS – Wilfried Zaha (58 – 18th in PL)
- FOULS – Jeffrey Schlupp (44 – 5th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Wilfried Zaha (80 – 1st in PL)
- SAVES – Vicente Guaita (85 – 6th in PL)
PREDICTION
Just because Palace enter this fixture off the back of two wins, there is nothing to say that they will make it three in a row. However, play like they did in the second half against Leeds, that will almost certainly be the case. However, Southampton find themselves in a bit of a predicament and while the Eagles look to have some freedom to play their own game, the hosts will be desperate for the points. We will be happy to take a draw to make it 7 points from 3 games.
FINAL SCORE: 1-1
RESOURCES
