Southampton vs Fulham Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2012-10-07 - Southampton vs Fulham

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Southampton v Fulham
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 7 October 2012 - Kick Off 1:30pm
This game is live on TV

Southampton

A couple of seasons ago we had Ian Holloway and Blackpool coming into the Premier League and playing some fearless football, although it was ultimately unsuccessful as they were relegated from the top flight. Southampton have seemed to have taken over from Blackpool in that respect, but Nigel Adkins is aware that his side have to improve defensively if they are to avoid the fate that fell to Blackpool.

The side were beaten 3-1 at Everton last week despite taking the lead and that means Southampton are still 17th in the Premier League table and they are the only side with 5 losses so far this season. Southampton are 1-0-2 at St Mary's so far this season, scoring 6 goals and conceding 6 in those games.

Southampton have won back to back games at home in all competitions, including a 4-1 win over Aston Villa in their last home game. The most disappointing result of their season so far was a 0-2 loss to Wigan Athletic here and games like that and the one against Fulham are ones they have to win if Southampton are to prolong their stay in the top flight.

Tadanari Lee and Luke Shaw are both likely to be passed fit for this game, but Jack Cork is set to miss out.

Fulham

Martin Jol was being criticised in the press by Bobby Zamora this week who suggested the number of players leaving the club in the Summer was down to the management of Jol. The fans won't be too concerned as long as they can steer clear of the relegation battle and perhaps even finish in the top half again.

The side are 9th in the Premier League with 3 wins to their name, and they almost held Manchester City to a draw at home last week before a late 1-2 loss. Fulham are 1-0-2 away from home so far this season, scoring 4 goals and conceding 7.

Fulham's home defeat to City snapped a 2 game winning run in the Premier League that included a 1-2 win at Wigan Athletic. Before that, Fulham had conceded 3 against both Manchester United and West Ham United in their other 2 away games and they had lost 4 in a row in all competitions until the win at the DW Stadium. The Cottagers have lost 5 of their last 7 away games in all competitions, winning the other 2.

Philippe Senderos, Kieran Richardson, Kerim Frei and Simon Davies have all been injured and may get back in time for this game if they pass late fitness tests. Dimitar Berbatov and Mahamadou Diarra look set to miss out until after the international break.

Head to Head

This is the first time these sides will play against one another since the 2004/05 season when they drew 3-3 here at St Mary's in a topsy-turvy game.

4 of the last 5 games between the teams in Southampton have ended in draws, while the other was won by Southampton 4-2.

Prediction

The layers are finding it hard to separate these two teams and I have to say that I am too.

However, one element of the game that we should see is goals and that has been spotted by the layers who don't go bigger than 1.73 that there are 3 or more goals in the game.

That helps lead me on to my pick from the game as I do believe we will see goals, but Ladbrokes are being very generous by offering Southampton to avoid defeat and at least 3 goals to be scored in the game.

The home side will give Fulham chances so I imagine they will score at least one goal, but I also like Southampton's chances of scoring goals as Fulham have conceded at least 2 goals in 3 straight Premier League away games before the 1-2 win at Wigan Athletic.

I think there is every chance that Southampton will score at least 2 goals in this one as they have been free-scoring for much of the season and have created plenty of chances in those matches.

Fulham's poor away form over the last few seasons has also led me to believe that Southampton won't lose this game and are probably the more likely winners of the contest. The 3.20 being offered by Ladbrokes that Southampton avoid defeat with at least 3 goals scored looks the way to go.

The Statistics :

SOUTHAMPTON LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2012-09-22	W	4-1	H v Aston_Villa
	2012-09-02	L	2-3	H v Man_Utd
	2012-08-25	L	0-2	H v Wigan
	2005-05-15	L	1-2	H v Man_Utd
	2005-04-30	W	4-3	H v Norwich
	2005-04-16	L	2-3	H v Aston_Villa

FULHAM LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2012-09-22	W	1-2	A v Wigan
	2012-09-01	L	3-0	A v West_Ham
	2012-08-25	L	3-2	A v Man_Utd
	2012-05-13	L	2-0	A v Tottenham
	2012-05-01	W	0-1	A v Liverpool
	2012-04-28	L	4-0	A v Everton