West Ham United will be desperate to end their seven-game winless streak in the Premier League when Southampton visit the London Stadium on Saturday.
The Hammers find themselves in 18th place – just inside the relegation zone – while Saints are ten points ahead in 12th.
After picking up just two points from a possible 21 in recent games, David Moyes’ side are in serious danger of relegation.
However, West Ham can take some confidence from the fact that they pushed Liverpool all the way in their previous game.
Moyes’ men went behind after just nine minutes at Anfield, but defender Issa Diop leveled moments later. Ten minutes into the second half, Pablo Fornals gave the Hammers an unlikely lead.
West Ham battled hard, but goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane swung the game back in Liverpool’s favour. Still, the relegation strugglers must be given credit for their efforts.
Southampton returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Aston Villa last weekend. Shane Long and Stuart Armstrong got on the scoresheet, while Saints limited Villa to just one shot on target.
Following a hugely successful festive period, Southampton had hit a bit of a rough patch of late, so their impressive display against Villa will have pleased manager Ralph Hasenhuttl massively.
Saints’ slight downturn in form has seen top scorer Danny Ings score just one goal in his last five appearances. The 27-year-old will be confident of getting back on track against a leaky Hammers defense.
Only Aston Villa and Norwich have a poorer defensive record than West Ham in the Premier League this season.
Having said that, trends suggest that both teams are likely to score this weekend. Both teams have scored in eight of West Ham’s last ten home games, while there have been goals at both ends of the pitch in nine of Southampton’s previous twelve away matches.
Let’s turn our attention to the team news now. West Ham have Andriy Yarmolenko, Jack Wilshire, Tomas Soucek and Ryan Fredericks all out with injuries.
But with no fresh injury concerns, David Moyes is likely to stick with the same starting eleven that did so well against Liverpool last time out.
As for Southampton, Nathan Redmond remains a long-term absentee, while Moussa Djnepo and Kyle Walker-Peters could return.
West Ham’s problems are likely to continue this weekend as Southampton look set to record consecutive Premier League victories.
Forebet predicts that Saints will score over 2.5 goals on their way to victory.