MY ACCOUNT
– Southampton have won two of their last three Premier League away games
– Leeds have failed to win eight of their last nine home league contests
– Recommended Bet: Double chance Tie or Southampton
The Premier League’s bottom two face off at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon when Javi Gracia’s Leeds take on a Southampton side still under the caretaker charge of Ruben Selles.
On Tuesday, the Whites finally ended their search for Jesse Marsch’s replacement when they appointed the ex-Watford head coach, although they await confirmation from the authorities that he can officially sit in the dugout this weekend.
Back-to-back defeats against Manchester United and Everton have seen Leeds plunge into the relegation zone, and last Saturday’s results, when three of the bottom five won, could hardly have gone worse for them.
The Saints, currently just one point and one place below Leeds, were among those to pick up a vital three points when James Ward-Prowse scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Chelsea.
Southampton’s skipper later revealed that former assistant boss Selles had already demonstrated calm leadership in the wake of Nathan Jones’ sacking.
Team news
Gracia inherited one of the longest injury lists in the Premier League as Leeds were without top scorer Rodrigo, winger Luis Sinisterra, midfielders Marc Roca, Stuart Dallas and Adam Forshaw, plus defenders Max Wober and Pascal Struijk last weekend.
Rodrigo will not feature for some weeks yet after undergoing surgery, while Wober and Forshaw will be sidelined for a little while longer.
But Sinisterra, Roca and Struijk could all be in contention to make their returns against Southampton as Garcia seeks a solution to Leeds’ problem of balancing attack with defence.
For Southampton, Selles could stand by the selection that showed plenty of fight for their cause at Stamford Bridge last weekend, collecting six yellow cards in the victory.
Saints were without defender Mohammed Salisu, striker Che Adams, and long-term absentees Juan Larios and Tino Livramento at Chelsea.
Larios has now returned to training following a groin injury, but neither Salisu nor Adams were spotted at Staplewood this week during the club’s preparatory sessions for the Elland Road clash.
Croatian international duo Duje Caleta-Car and Mislav Orsic were dropped from the first-team by Jones and remained outside the 20-man matchday squad last weekend.
They were not the only seemingly fit and available players left out by Selles at Stamford Bridge, as defender James Bree and winger Samuel Edozie were also absent.
The stats
Gracia’s first game in English football was a 1-0 away defeat to Southampton in the fourth round of the FA Cup six days after replacing Marco Silva as Watford’s head coach in January 2018.
The Spaniard led the Hornets to the FA Cup Final and an 11th-placed Premier League finish in 2018-19 before he was sacked after his team collected just one point from their opening four games of the following campaign.
His win percentage during that 20-month spell at Vicarage Road was 37.9%, the highest of any Watford manager in the top flight since Graham Taylor (41% from 1982-87).
Southampton showed plenty of stomach for the fight at Chelsea, recording a season-high 22 tackles won, double the number of their previous game against Wolves.
But the Saints are the only Premier League club that are yet to score a goal from inside the six-yard box this season.
Prediction
After seemingly going all around the houses in their search for a new boss, Leeds have done quite well in enticing Gracia back to the Premier League.
The 52-year-old has the knowhow from a successful scrap for Premier League survival and could be just the calming influence many of the Leeds squad need after some turbulent times under Marsch and Marcelo Bielsa.
He made an immediate impact on Watford when he took over there, taking ten points from his first five league games in charge, and gets to face the division’s basement club at home in his first fixture.
However, Southampton really rolled their sleeves up as a collective unit and fought for every second of their win at Chelsea.
Selles seems to have found a formula to unite a dressing room that has not been pulling in the same direction this season.
Neither team can afford to lose on Saturday, so the draw must be a highly likely result.
But Southampton have won two of their last three away Premier League games, finding a way to beat Everton when Leeds could not, so there is good reason to cover two results here by taking the Saints to avoid defeat.
Back Double Chance Tie or Southampton at 5/6 with LiveScore Bet.
