One of the huge advantage that Leicester City have over Southampton is the fact that they have taken a 1-0 win on their return to the Premier League, which Russell Martin’s side are yet to achieve. Moreover, Southampton conceded thrice against Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth in the first half itself, but Steve Cooper’s side didn’t allow the visitors to take much attempts on goal and Facundo Buonanotte scored an early first half goal to give Leicester City a huge reward with a 1-0 home win.
However, the Saints need to take some confidence from the fact that their previous Premier League win came against Leicester City itself in the 2022/23 season. Therefore, Southampton have a good chance to bring a decent result from this match, but Premier League analyst Paul Merson didn’t believes it to be the case in the eighth league match. Merson previewed Southampton’s upcoming home fixture against the Championship winners and predicted a 2-1 defeat for the Saints, saying,
Paul Merson gives worrying prediction for Southampton against Leicester City
“I feel Southampton are way too predictable. If they keep doing the same things they’ve done so far, it could be curtains for them soon.
Southampton are under too much pressure and I don’t see anything but a Leicester win in this one.”– Paul Merson
Merson highlighted that Southampton’s struggling start in the new season is unlikely to change much after the international break. Moreover, the former Arsenal forward also talked about Leicester City’s impressive possession-based tactics with which Steve Cooper’s side quickly manage to advance the ball inside the final third.
This has been evident with the fact that Leicester City have scored more than twice the number of goals as Southampton, with their in-form front three of Jamie Vardy, Stephy Mavididi and Facundo Buonanotte. Apart from these three forwards, Leicester City also have Abdul Fatawu Issahaku as a great right-wing option, who even scored a memorable hat-trick against Southampton in the Championship.
Therefore, Russell Martin’s side face a significant task against the 2015/16 Premier League Champions, but can take a win as well if they replicate their impressive first half performance against Arsenal. Now, it remains to be seen whether Russell Martin’s side can take a draw or a much needed win from this home fixture.
