A decisive relegation battle is coming up on Tuesday evening, when Swansea host Southampton at the Liberty Stadium. The reverse fixture in August ended goalless, with both teams struggling for form at the start of the season. Last season Swansea defeated Southampton 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium after having lost 1-0 at St Mary's in the reverse fixture. Overall, Southampton have won six of the last nine direct matches, including three away wins, while Swansea have only won twice.
Swansea and Southampton are tied on 33 points at the edge of the relegation zone before this match, so the team that will manage to win this game will be pretty much safe from relegation before the last weekend of the season. The Swans are in pretty bad form, though, they have lost their last three league matches and have been unable to score in any of those games. Moreover, they have not won a match since the start of March and have scored just two goals in the following eight matches in all competitions. Wilfried Bony, Leroy Fer and Kyle Bartley are all injured, but Kyle Naughton has a good chance of recovering from illness.
Southampton got very close to a vital victory last weekend at Everton, but they conceded an injury-time goal and it ended 1-1. That result leaves them needing at least to avoid defeat at Swansea, but if they win at the Liberty Stadium then their survival in the Premier League would be pretty much sealed. Maya Yoshida is suspended for this match after being sent off against Everton, while Steven Davis remains injured. Mario Lemina picked up a knock at Goodison Park and is a doubt for Tuesday's game.
Probable line-ups:
Swansea: Fabianski - Hoorn, Fernandez, Mawson - Roberts, Sung-yueng, King, Olsson - Narsingh, A. Ayew - J. Ayew
Southampton: McCarthy - Bednarek, Stephens, Hoedt - Soares, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Bertrand - Redmond, Tadic - Long
My prediction: 0-0 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Swansea win - 3.25
Draw - 3.39
Southampton win - 2.37
05/14/18, 07:05:06 PM
