Southampton’s playoff push continues in the EFL Championship this weekend as they face Swansea City.
Southampton currently sit 4th in the EFL Championship with thirteen wins, six draws and four losses from twenty-three games this season.
The Saints are having an excellent season following relegation from the Premier League last time out and if not for Leicester City and Ipswich Town delivering hitherto historic points hauls they’d no doubt occupy an automatic promotion place.
They’re entering this game amidst an outstanding run of form, unbeaten in their last five games having won three of their last five.
Their latest outing saw them claim a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Queens Park Rangers with a Taylor Harwood-Bellis goal enough to secure all three points.
The win in London was a big one for Southampton as it was a game in which they didn’t necessarily have things their own win but despite the tough circumstances they still managed to get the job done - a trait typically emblematic of very successful teams.
Their form at home has been excellent of late too, as they come into this game having won all of their last five matches on home soil having conceded just two goals in that period.
The Saints are unfortunate that there appear to be four genuine automatic promotion contenders for the first time in a number of years, with the bar for a top-two finish likely to be extremely high.
All they can keep doing is performing as they have been doing and hope somebody else slips up, and another three points here feel quite probable.
Swansea City currently sit 16th in the EFL Championship with seven wins, seven draws and nine losses from twenty-three games this season.
The Swans are having a pretty unremarkable campaign thus far as they sit on the edge of mid-table.
They’re entering this game in fairly decent form having won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five games, the most recent of which was a 2-1 win over Preston North End.
The win was a pretty elated one for the Welsh side given it came in dramatic circumstances courtesy of a 95th minute winner from Jamie Patterson, who’d also given Swansea the lead after an hour.
Their form on the road hasn’t been all that bad of late either, with Swansea having won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five games on the road.
Swansea might be treading water somewhat this season but they’re a decent side on their day and are perfectly capable of upsetting some of the better teams.
This one, though, is likely a step too far them with a Southampton victory an overwhelmingly likely outcome.
For our Southampton vs. Swansea prediction, we’re going for a 3-1 win for the home side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.