Southampton welcome West Ham on Boxing Day in a possible relegation six-pointer and you can find our preview, prediction, team news and predicted lineups below.
Southampton vs West Ham Preview
Southampton have made a horrific start to the 2024/25 Premier League season and this saw the end of Russell Martin’s time in charge.
The club have now appointed Ivan Juric, who was in attendance for the Saints’ draw to Fulham last time out and the Croatian manager is set to take charge of his first match on Boxing Day – as he awaits a work permit.
The Saints have failed to win in their last eight matches across all competitions and sit bottom of the table with just six points from 17 matches.
As for West Ham, results have began to turn around after a terrible start to the season as the Hammers are undefeated from their last three league matches.
Julen Lopetegui’s side earned a 1-1 draw against Brighton last time out and are now eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Southampton vs West Ham Team News
The Saints have no fresh injury concerns, however William Smallbone, Gavin Bazunu, Ross Stewart and Juan Lopez are all out until 2025.
Maxwel Cornet will also be unavailable as he is currently on loan from West Ham, but the Ivorian has not played in the Premier League since September.
Tyler Dibling was forced off at half-time against Fulham but the youngster is expected to return on Boxing Day.
As for West Ham, the Hammers were rocked by the news over Michail Antonio’s car crash and the Jamaican is out indefinitely.
Lopetegui has a relatively full list to pick from other than that, but Lucas Paqueta will miss out through suspension after accumulating too may yellow cards.
Konstantinos Mavropanos came off after 45 minutes against Brighton and is facing a race against time to be fit for the trip to Southampton.
Southampton vs West Ham Predicted Lineups
Southampton: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis; Bednarek, Wood; Sugawara, Aribo, Downes, Walker-Peters; Dibling, Fernandes, Armstrong
West Ham: Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson; Alvarez, Soucek; Bowen, Kudus, Summerville; Fullkrug
Southampton vs West Ham Prediction
The visitors are the clear favourites on UK betting sites due to Southampton’s poor form this season and the improvement in performance for the Hammers.
With that in mind, we believe Julen Lopetegui’s side will have enough to earn a rare victory on the road and win by a small margin.
Prediction: Southampton 1-2 West Ham
