Southampton will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Burnley when they host Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
The Saints struggled to carry their positive form from before the winter break into their last match at St Mary’s as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side struggled to put together any sort of momentum in difficult conditions.
That result has left some fans looking back over their shoulder towards the relegation zone and this weekend’s fixture could prove to be a pivotal one in the fight for survival.
Villa currently sit just one place and one point above the bottom three and are six points off Hasenhuttl’s men in 13th – but another home defeat would see the gap halved and nerves intensify.
Dean Smith’s side suffered an agonising 3-2 loss to Tottenham last weekend following a 94th-minute winner for Spurs.
In his pre-match press conference, Hasenhuttl revealed that Nathan Redmond, Sofiane Boufal and Kyle Walker-Peters will all miss this clash through respective injuries.
Here’s how we predict the side to line up:
