Southampton vs Burnley Preview

March 20, 2015
By: Deke Hardman

Southampton vs Crystal Palace

Saturday afternoon’s match at St Mary’s Stadium sees top four hopefuls Southampton host a Burnley side who go in to the weekend just one point from safety.

Ronald Koeman’s side took a point from their trip to table-toppers Chelsea last time out, though one win from their past five games has seen them slip six points behind fourth place Manchester United.

Eljero Elia has recovered from the ankle problem that kept him out of his sides’ visit to Stamford Bridge a week ago, though Jay Rodriguez and Emmanuel Mayuka remain long term absentees.

Graziano Pelle is favourite to open the scoring at 5.5 (9/2) with Paddy Power, ahead of Sadio Mane who is a 6.1 (51/10) chance with 888 Sport.

The home win is widely available at 1.5 (1/2), with the visitors as highly priced as the 8.5 (15/2) on offer from Bet 365, who have the draw at 4.5 (7/2).

Sean Dyche’s side, who have been among the favourites to be relegated all season, moved to within a point of seventeenth place after last weekend’s shock victory over champions Manchester City.

That result brought to an end an unbeaten run of eight games, while anything but defeat will see the Clarets, if only momentarily climb out of the relegation zone with Sunderland not facing West Ham United until later in the day.

Stephen Ward is expected to feature despite missing training with a minor injury midweek, while Matt Taylor is still a week or so from returning from an Achilles problem.

Danny Ings is 11.0 (10/1) to get the first goal of the game with Paddy Power, while George Boyd is a 26.0 (25/1) shot with Bet Victor.

Burnley ran out 1-0 winners when the sides met at Turf Moor back in December and have lost just one of their last six league clashes with the South Coast side though they have taken just maximum points from just one of their away games so far this season.

With this is mind, you may be tempted to back the 1-1 draw at 9.0 (8/1) with Bet 365.

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