Southampton vs Wolverhampton Wanderers 18/01/20

18 January 2020

Southampton take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in an exciting Premier League (PL) matchup, looking to take their third consecutive league win and Wolves’ position in the table.

Resurgent hosts have won four of their previous five top-flight outings (W4, D1), with two of their last league triumphs coming via a single-goal margin. Southampton’s upturn in results has seen them create a seven-point gap on relegation-threatened Aston Villa and reduce the margin on fifth-placed Manchester United to just six points. Surprisingly though, only three of the Saints’ eight PL triumphs have come at home (37%), and just 11 of their total 28 points have been collected at St. Mary’s Stadium (39%). Even though they’ve avoided defeat in both of their previous H2Hs with Wolves (W1, D1); it will be a daunting prospect for Southampton to pick up three points here. Indeed, they’ve suffered four successive defeats to Wolves – scoring just one goal in total – before starting a run of their own last year.

Meanwhile, the visitors have endured a dip in form lately, going from back-to-back league triumphs to three straight games without a win (D1, L2). Importantly, all four of their results (win/loss) during that five-game sequence have come via a narrow one-goal margin, with two of them seeing the winners on the day come from behind the seal three points. Just two wins and zero clean sheets in their last seven PL road trips (W2, D3, L2) indicate Wolves might have problems posting their first top-flight win at Southampton in the 21st century. Also, although no team has rescued more away points than Wolves so far (9), Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have shipped the opening goal in eight of 11 PL away matches, which seems to be a real problem for the Wanderers.