Southampton vs Ipswich prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2024-09-20 14:00.
[p]St Mary’s has been a dreary place since Southampton returned to the top flight, with the Saints posting a fourth straight defeat in as many league games against Manchester United last weekend. That means only they and Everton head into this round without a point, but Southampton can take scant hope from the fact that they also lost their first four games following their last promotion in 2012/13 before finishing in 14th.[/p]
[p]Southampton will hope it’s fifth time lucky here as they welcome fellow new boys Ipswich Town. Russell Martin’s men didn’t pick up a point against the Tractor Boys in the Championship last season, and that pair of defeats extended Martin’s personal winless H2H record to four games (D2, L2), meaning he’s only faced Middlesbrough more often without ever winning against a single opponent. [/p]
[p]Also yet to win a league game this season (D2, L2), Ipswich make the journey south with the slight advantage of having had no midweek cup duties unlike their hosts. Keiran McKenna did take positives after securing a backs-to-the-wall point against Brighton (0-0), yet their sorry return means that this is the second slowest start after four Premier League rounds by all three promoted sides, who have accumulated just four points between them. [/p]
[p]McKenna will hope to boost his side’s return with a win, and it may be appropriate to do that here given that Ipswich have won more Premier League games against Southampton (five) than against anyone else. Ipswich won here 1-0 last season in league action but have not put together back-to-back away league H2H victories since back in 1980. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Yukinari Sugawara is Southampton’s only league scorer this season, although he may be more concerned about the fact that he makes up part of a backline that has trailed for more minutes than any team this term (208 minutes, 15 seconds). For Ipswich, Liam Delap scored their most recent league goal but has been much better value for a yellow card, picking one up in three of his last five appearances for club & country. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Just one of the six games played between the newly-promoted sides in last season’s Premier League were won by the home team. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Matthew Billon[/i][/p]