Southampton face another relegation six-pointer when they travel to Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
Just goal difference separates Saints, who are in the relegation zone, and Villa, who sit just above the dotted line.
This means that a win for the visitors would definitely lift them out of the bottom three, while the losers will go into Christmas Day in the drop zone.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have lost their last two against Newcastle and West Ham. Dean Smith’s team, though, have lost their previous three against Chelsea, Leicester and Sheffield United.
However, Villa did progress to the semi-finals of the League Cup on Tuesday with a 5-0 win over Liverpool’s youngsters.
Saints have a good recent record against Saturday’s counterparts and are without a defeat in their last six meetings.
Hasenhuttl revealed in his pre-match press conference that Moussa Djenepo is absent for this clash with a hamstring injury, while Sofiane Boufal remains a doubt, Kevin Danso has a fever and Yan Valery is still ill.
Here’s how we predict the side to line up.
