Aston Villa-Southampton is a match valid for the eighth day of the Premier League and is played on Friday at 9pm
The Premier League kicks off again after being halted in mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II. While waiting to find out when the seventh day can be made up, we start again with the eighth, which features two Friday early games. One of them is between Aston Villa and Southampton, two teams that have not fully convinced and currently occupy a rather anonymous position in the standings. Steven Gerrard’s men represent so far one of the biggest disappointments of this start of the season. The Villans’ only victory was the one against Everton in the second round. Otherwise, the Birmingham club’s haul is four defeats and a draw.
Aston Villa’s first gasp came in their last match against Guardiola and Haaland’s Manchester City, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park. The feeling is that Coutinho and his team-mates just have to get out of this running-in phase, perhaps by racking up a few consecutive wins to finally pull themselves out of the negative period. The squad is equipped to try and get closer to the European zone and it is frankly unthinkable that in six games they have picked up barely four points. Gerrard himself also needs to shake off the pressure, and the opportunity to try and get going again is the home match against the Saints, who were overwhelmed with a 4-0 without appeal last season.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team have three more points and a fortnight ago they were able to surprise Chelsea, beaten 2-1 at St Mary’s Stadium. Continuity, however, is still a rare commodity for the red-and-whites, who returned empty-handed from the away match against Wolverhampton (1-0). Away from home Southampton only managed to prevail against Leicester, but a less than soft schedule must also be taken into account.
Lavia and Bella-Kotchap
The Prediction
Aston Villa gave a good feeling against Manchester City: the difficult moment may now be behind them. A positive result for Gerrard’s men is likely in the first leg against Southampton, in a match in which the total number of goals is likely to be at least three.
The likely Aston Villa-Southampton line-up
- ASTON VILLA (4-3-3): Martinez; Young, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Douglas Luiz, Kamara, McGinn; Bailey, Watkins, Ramsey.
- SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bella-Kotchap, Salisu, Perraud; Ward-Prowse, Maitland-Niles; Elyounoussi, Aribo, Djenepo; Adams.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
