Southampton vs AFC Bournemouth Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Bournemouth enters this game as firm favourites against their South Coast rivals, as the Cherries sit 31 points clear of the Saints after 24 matches. Southampton have lost 19 of their 24 league games this campaign, of which one of those defeats were against the visitors who comfortably beat them 3-1 at the Vitality Stadium back in late September.

Andoni Iraola’s side also have a decent away record this campaign, as they have accumulated 19 points from 12 matches, the seventh-best record in the division.

Prediction: Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth

Bottom of the table Southampton will be aiming to win just their third Premier League match of the season when they host South Coast rivals AFC Bournemouth at St. Mary’s on matchday 25.

Date: 15/02/2025

Location: St. Mary’s

Time: 3pm

The Saints have had woeful 2024/25 season as they have accumulated just nine points from 24 matches, meaning that they are on course to become the second-worst team in Premier League history with a projection of just 14 points.

Ivan Juric has tried his best to stem the downward spiral, however, the damage was already done prior to the Croatian’s arrival on 23rd December. The ex-AS Roma manager has won two of his nine games in charge, while Russell Martin’s stint in the Premier League saw the Saints earn six points from 16 league matches.

Something that summed up Southampton’s season was their drab defeat to Burnley in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, with their 1-0 defeat to the Clarets giving fans of the Saints no escapism from what looks like a grim 14-match run of league fixtures until the end of the season, barring a miraculous recovery to overtake Wolves who sit 10 points clear of the St. Mary’s club in 17th-place.

Bournemouth are enjoying a superb campaign under Iraola, as the Cherries are firmly in contention to qualify for European football for the first time in their history, as they are seventh in the table, with just three points separating them to fourth-place Chelsea in the final Champions League qualification place.

Iraola’s impressive style of football has proved to be key once again, as they are firmly on course to better last season’s 12th-pace finish when they accumulated 48 points, just eight more than they have after 24 games this campaign.

The Cherries are also still in the FA Cup, having been drawn to play Wolves at home in the Fifth Round following victories over Everton (2-0) and West Brom (5-1).

When these two sides last met back on 30th September, Bournemouth raced into an emphatic 3-0 half time lead thanks to goals from Evanilson, Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo before Taylor Harwood-Bellis pulled back a mere consolation goal for the Saints in the 51st-minute.

Due to this being a Saturday 3pm kick-off, this game will not be broadcast on live TV in the UK. You will be able to find live commentary via BBC Radio Solent.

Southampton

Ex-Bournemouth man Ryan Fraser and fellow Scotsman Ross Stewart will be the only injury absentees for Southampton this weekend.

AFC Bournemouth

Andoni Iraola’s side have several injury issues, as Julian Araujo, James Hill, Marcos Senesi, Adam Smith, Alex Scott, Evanilson, Luis Sinisterra and Enes Unal are all likely to miss their clash at St. Mary’s.

Southampton

As previously mentioned, Southampton suffered a drab 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Burnley last time out as Marcus Edwards scored the only goal of the game on his debut for the Clarets following his loan move from Sporting Lisbon.

The Saints did manage a shock Premier League win at Ipswich Town before their defeat to Burnley, as Joe Aribo and Paul Onuachu scored on either side of a Liam Delap equaliser to earn Ivan Juric his first league win as manager of Southampton.

Prior to those matches, Southampton suffered defeats to Newcastle United (3-1), Nottingham Forest (3-2) and Manchester United (3-1), with Amad Diallo scoring a hat-trick in the latter mentioned defeat.

AFC Bournemouth

AFC Bournemouth knocked Everton out of the FA Cup last weekend, meaning that the Toffees have now played their last cup tie at Goodison Park - both Antoine Semenyo and Daniel Jebbison got on the scoresheet in that game.

The Cherries were beaten 2-0 at home by Liverpool prior to their FA Cup win as Mohamed Salah fired in a brace. In the run-up to those matches, Iraola’s men earned thumping wins over both Nottingham Forest (5-0) and Newcastle United (4-1) with Justin Kluivert scoring four times across those two matches. Bournemouth also managed a 2-2 draw at Chelsea at the start of this sequence of results.

Throughout the 2024/25 season, you can find our Prediction content here, with expert analysis via our team at Footy Accumulators. On top of this, we provide free exclusive betting tips and markets that run throughout the week that could also be of interest:

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