Southampton vs. Burnley: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Despite their poor league form, Southampton comfortably dispatched Swansea in the previous round, and although Burnley are a superior side, they're still largely unimpressive in what is a fairly weak year in the Championship.

Burnley have failed to score in three of their last four games and regularly have difficulties in front of goal, so they'll find it hard to get on the scoresheet here. Southampton still have enough quality to give the top Championship teams a very rough ride, and we think they'll do that here. Southampton 2-0 Burnley.

Championship highflyers Burnley take on Southampton in the FA Cup fourth round this weekend as the former look to pull off an upset.

• Date: 08/02/2025
• Kick-off time: 15:00
• Location: St Mary's Stadium, Southampton

Southampton are currently rock bottom of the Premier League table with nine points from 24 games. The Saints have had a rough return to England's top tier as they look as good as destined to return to the Championship next season after just one year back in the big time.

Southampton will hope that they have the necessary pieces in place to mount a promotion push next season, as it's quite unlikely that many of their players - outside of Tyler Dibling and Kyle Walker-Peters - will be too highly sought after, so they should come down with a good amount of quality.

Even a change in manager has done little to help the Saints, who look similarly rudderless under Ivan Jurić as they did under Russell Martin. Jurić will likely get the first few months of next season to prove himself capable of taking the team to the level that is expected of him, but tangible improvements are yet to be observed.

Southampton reached the semi-finals of this competition in 2020-21, and the quarter-finals the season after, but the last two seasons have both seen fifth round exits. With their league season looking increasingly tough to salvage, Southampton should make an effort to progress as far as possible in this compettion, as they owe their loyal fans something to shout about.

Burnley are currently 3rd in the Championship with 61 points from 31 games. The Clarets are having a strong season in England's second tier, even if they have drawn a lot of criticism for their "boring" style of play. Burnley have played out a whopping ten goalless draws this season, meaning that up until Tuesday night's win over Oxford, they'd drawn one-third of their league games this season.

Quite an astonishing figure, but even more astonishing is the fact they've conceded only nine goals all season. As things stand, Scott Parker's side are on course to not only break a Championship record, but also an all-time English footballing record, as they eye up Chelsea's 2004-05 record of just 15 goals (0.4 goals per game) conceded in a single season. Burnley are currently trending at a rate of 0.29 goals conceded per game, so if they continue down their current trajectory, they're very likely to set a national record.

This, mind, would all be slightly more impressive if Burnley moved the needle a bit more in an attacking sense. The Clarets are fairly stale going forward, especially considering their attacking talent, as they come into this game having scored just 37 goals so far this season. For a team with their firepower, it's a pretty underwhelming return, and one that the fans are certainly quite disappointed in.

Burnley have gone beyond the fifth round only once since the early 00s, and having been knocked out by Tottenham in the third round last season, they'll want to give a better showing this time around.

This game will not be televised live in the UK, but radio coverage will be provided by BBC Radio Solent.

Southampton Team News:

The Saints will once again be without striker Ross Stewart, but he should be the only absentee for this game.

Tyler Dibling could return to the starting XI after making his return from injury last time out, while Yukinari Sugawara will also be hoping for a start.

Predicted lineup: Ramsdale; Bree, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis; Sugawara, Ugochukwu, Aribo, Walker-Peters; Dibling, Fernandes; Onuachu.

Burnley Team News:

Scott Parker will be unable to call upon Luca Koleosho, Josh Brownhill, Nathan Redmond, Aaron Ramsey and Jordan Beyer, all of whom are out injured.

Parker may rest a few names here with the Clarets amidst a promotion push, with the likes of Marcus Edwards and Jonjo Shelvey in line for a start.

Predicted lineup: Hladký; Roberts, Egan-Riley, Worrall, Pires; Shelvey, Laurent; Edwards, Sarmiento, Benson; Flemming.

Southampton:

Southampton come into this game with two wins and three losses from their last five games. Last time out, goals from Joe Aribo and Paul Onuachu secured a 2-1 win away at Ipswich Town, a result that followed a 1-3 loss at home to Newcastle United and a 3-2 loss at Nottingham Forest, where despite goals from Jan Bednarek and Onuachu, they could not come back from 3-0 down.

Before that, a late Adam Diallo hat-trick denied them a result at Old Trafford in a 3-1 defeat, which came after a 3-0 win over Swansea City in the previous round of this competition via a Tyler Dibling brace and a goal from Kamaldeen Sulemana.

Burnley:

Burnley enter this game with two wins and three draws from their last five matches. In the week, an own goal gave them a 1-0 win over Oxford United, which was preceded by successive 0-0 draws against Portsmouth and Leeds United.

Prior to that, braces from Zian Flemming and Josh Laurent, on top of a Josh Cullen goal, resulted in a 5-0 win at Plymouth, which was preceded by a 0-0 draw againsr Sunderland.

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