Southampton v Newcastle: Toon resolute on the road
Published:Nigel Adkins survived ‘El Sackico’ by guiding his team to a 3-1 win at Loftus Road last time out and that should see his charges buoyed ahead of a visit from stuttering Newcastle.
Southampton are 13/10 favourites to get the win at St Mary’s as they bid to climb out of the relegation zone and their ability to find the back of the net could prove pivotal against a goal-shy Toon team.
Their tally of 18 goals is more than anyone else in the bottom-half of the Premier League has managed and with the Magpies yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet all season Saints are sure to be amongst the goals again here.
A price of 1/1 says that they’ll score more than 1.5 past Tim Krul in the Newcastle net while a tempting 10/3 is on offer for them to put over 2.5 goals on the scoresheet by themselves.
The second half is when Krul needs to be most on his toes as that’s when the hosts tend to strike. Eight of the 10 home goals they’ve got in the league have been registered after the break and this makes the 11/8 available for them to notch more in the second-half as opposed to the first a very good price indeed.
Expecting Southampton to score a couple is fair enough given the way they approach games, but you can’t write Alan Pardew’s side off in this one either.
Although they still await their first win on their travels this season, the Magpies have been exceptionally tough to beat away from St James’ Park. They’ve drawn seven of their games on the road, including their last four.
A fifth Toon stalemate on the bounce is forecast to come in at 12/5, while the 11/8 available for them to avoid defeat with more than three goals notched in the game has to be backed.
All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date
