Southampton v Stoke
15:00 - 21/5/2017 - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Southampton played out a third goalless draw in five matches against Man Utd in midweek but can count themselves slightly unfortunate as Sergio Romero made a string of good saves including against a penalty. The point moved them up to eighth which is slightly flattering as they’re 15 points adrift of Everton in seventh, whilst they’re only six points ahead of Watford in 16th.
Stoke are one of the teams in this congested group, but are unable finish in the top-half, as they had done in the previous three seasons. A string of poor results, the latest a hammering at home to Arsenal, has seen the Potters win just one of their last 10, conceding at least twice in six of these. They’ve been particularly poor on the road, losing eight of their last 11, failing to score in six of the last seven, whilst their only three victories have been against bottom-five clubs.
The Saints have struggled for goals at St Mary’s, firing a blank in five of their last six there, while only Sunderland have netted fewer at home all season. However, they should get their chances against this leaky Stoke defence, and so we’ll back a Saints win and under 2.5 goals given Claude Puel’s men have shown little in recent weeks to suggest they’ll score more than two goals, but have at least kept a clean sheet in five of their last eight hosting sides outside the top-six.
