Southampton vs Nottingham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2024-08-23 14:00.
[p]Southampton’s winless streak in the Premier League was extended to 14 matches (D4, L10) with a bitterly frustrating 1-0 loss away to Newcastle in which they had a one-man advantage when conceding the only goal. Despite acknowledging that they had enough opportunities to win the game in their own right, a “proud” head coach Russell Martin took a positive approach to the result, putting it down to a lack of intensity and vowing a confident showing against Nottingham Forest at St Mary’s Stadium. [/p]
[p]Five of their last seven wins in the 2023/24 Championship (including play-offs) were recorded at home and that’s the kind of momentum they’ll desperately need to take into their return to the top flight. Southampton home fans celebrated victory just twice (D5, L12) in their relegation-bound Premier League campaign of 2022/23, with one of their 12 losses coming against Forest as part of a W2, L4 H2H record across all competitions this century. [/p]
[p]Nottingham avoided an opening day defeat in any league for the first time since 2018/19 despite conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Bournemouth. Dropping points was a problem that plagued them throughout the previous Premier League campaign, where they took the lead in 19 matches but won only nine of them (D4, L6), with only Brentford and last season’s relegated trio posting worse conversion rates when leading compared to the Tricky Trees’ win percentage of 47.3%.  [/p]
[p]They narrowly avoided relegation last season with the fourth-worst record both at home and away, but this is a matchup they would likely have targeted with confidence for an early season win. Forest collected points from all six Premier League games against the newly promoted trio last season, despite conceding goals on all six occasions, notably winning away at both Sheffield United (3-1) and Burnley (2-1). Therefore, this game represents a crucial hurdle to clear should they wish for an improved top-flight campaign. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Ben Brereton DĂaz came within inches of netting for Southampton last weekend and should have fresh memories of opening the scoring against Forest for Sheffield United last season. Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi could also be inspired by history to make a late impact, as he scored three goals across the two H2Hs in 2022/23. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: 75% of Southampton’s home games last league season (inc. playoffs) produced over 2.5 goals. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Aaron Murphy[/i][/p]