Southampton host Plymouth Argyle at St Mary’s this Friday to kick off an important weekend of Championship football. The hosts need a win to stay within the conversation for automatic promotion, whereas Plymouth need the three points to put even more space between them and the relegation zone.
Southampton currently sit third in the Championship after 24 games. The Saints have 14 wins, six draws and four losses, leaving them on 48 points, five points from automatic promotion.
In their last five games in all competitions, Southampton have three wins and two draws.
Che Adams opened the scoring for Southampton early in the second half, in a game where The Saints had 61% of the possession, but a 96th minute goal from Rhys Healey meant the game finished 1 - 1. It was another 1 - 1 draw for Southampton against Coventry. Haji Wright gave Coventry the lead, but Samuel Edozie equalised for Southampton.
Southampton was back on the winning end against Blackburn Rovers. Edozie, Stuart Armstrong, Sekou Mara and Carlos Alcaraz all scored in the 4 - 0 win for Southampton over a ten-man Blackburn. Taylor Harwood-Bellis scored the only goal of the game in the first half as ten-man Southampton, who had Shea Charles sent off late on, grabbed a 1 - 0 win.
The last time out for Southampton was against Swansea on Boxing Day. Joe Aribo, Edozie and Adams all scored and along with Ryan Fraser’s brace, Southampton picked up a 5 - 0 win.
Plymouth Argyle, on the other hand, sit 16th. In 24 games, Argyle have seven wins, seven draws and ten losses which leaves them on 28 points, just eight points above the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions, Plymouth have one win, three draws and one loss.
The trip to Leicester was one to forget for Argyle. A brace from Stephy Mavididi and goals from Patson Daka and Wilfred Ndidi gave Leicester the 4 - 0 win, despite Plymouth having 15 shots in comparison to Leicester’s 13 shots. The next time out against QPR was also a painful affair for Plymouth. After Dan Scarr was sent off early on, Argyle could only manage 12 shots in comparison to QPR’s 29 shots and had to settle for the 0 - 0 draw.
Argyle picked up a win against a struggling Rotherham. Jamie Lindsay opened the scoring for Rotherham, but a penalty from Finn Isaac Azaz made it level at halftime. Azaz’s second goal gave Argyle the lead just minutes before Daniel Ayala was sent off for Rotherham. Tom Eaves did draw Rotherham level but Morgan Whittaker scored in the 96th minute to give Argyle the 3 - 2 win. It was another high-scoring game against Birmingham. Jay Stansfield and Jordan James gave Birmingham the early 2 - 0 lead, but Joe Edwards got Argyle into the game before halftime. Krystian Bielik was sent off just minutes into the second half for Birmingham and despite Juninho Bacuna’s goal, goals from Ben Waine and Whittaker both scored to grab a 3 - 3 draw.
The most recent outing for Plymouth was against Cardiff City on Boxing Day. Whittaker grabbed another brace from Plymouth, but an own goal from Matt Butcher and a goal from Karlan Grant meant the game ended in a 2 - 2 draw.
Southampton and Plymouth Argyle have met 93 times in their histories, with the first meeting coming all the way back in 1903. Plymouth have a marginally better record in the fixture with 34 wins in comparison to Southampton’s 33 wins, with the other 26 games ending in a draw.