Southampton v Brighton preview
Goals have been in short supply in recent meetings between Southampton and Brighton and Monday’s match at St Mary’s looks set to be a similarly low-scoring occasion.
Last season both Premier League encounters between the two south coast sides finished 1-1, while Southampton edged an EFL Cup tie at the Amex Stadium by a single goal in August, Charlie Austin grabbing the 88th-minute winner. The 29-year-old former QPR striker is 2.60 to score at anytime on Monday.
The Seagulls picked up four more points than Southampton last season when Saints were the draw specialists in the top-flight with 15, closely followed by Chris Hughton’s team who were involved in 13 draws.
No goal-fest at St Mary’s
Only relegated Swansea and West Brom scored fewer goals than Brighton’s 34 in 2017/18, while Southampton only found the net three more times than the Seagulls.
Southampton have found goals hard to come by again this term – they have scored four times and conceded on four occasions – while Brighton have only netted five goals – and three of those came against Manchester United.
It certainly does not look set to be a goal-fest at St Mary’s, with another 1-1 draw available at 6.35 while a 1-0 victory for Southampton can be backed at 6.55.
The odds on there being under 1.5 goals in the match are 2.80.
Seagulls struggle on their travels
The two sides are very evenly-matched, having each picked up four points from their first four matches, but Brighton are without an away Premier League victory in 10 months.
However, Southampton have only claimed one win in their last 13 home league games.
Hughton’s team have failed to score in their first two away encounters this season against Watford and Liverpool, while Southampton have kept three clean sheets in their five games in all competitions.
Murray the main man for Brighton
Danny Ings has made a good start to life on the south coast since joining Mark Hughes’ team on loan from Liverpool and has already scored two goals in four matches, including one in the impressive victory at Crystal Palace a fortnight ago. The former Burnley man is 6.50 to score the first goal on Monday.
Veteran Brighton striker Glenn Murray is also in good form and has the happy knack of scoring against Southampton – he has found the net four times in five league starts for Albion against Saints.
He has scored three times in his last three Premier League appearances, including a brace in the 2-2 draw against Fulham just before the international break.
Murray is good value at 8.50 to score the first goal against Hughes’ side, while Albion are 7.25 to score a penalty in the encounter.
A win for either side would propel them into the top half of the table after five rounds of fixtures, but two such closely-matched teams seem set to play out a draw with a goalless stalemate – available at 8.00 – not out of the question.
