Match Preview: Brighton v Southampton
In all the excitement surrounding Brighton and Hove Albion’s trip to Wembley to face Manchester City in the semi finals of the FA Cup, it seems to have been forgotten that the Seagulls are still in a relegation battle – and have two massive games before they step out under the arch.
The first of those is a six pointer against an improving Southampton side. Since appointing Ralph Hasenhüttl, the Saints have pulled themselves clear of the bottom three and are now just three points behind the Albion. That makes their visit to the Amex vital to both sides hopes of avoiding the drop in the Championship.
Worryingly for the Albion, our form hasn’t exactly been great since the turn of the year. We squeaked a 1-0 win against Huddersfield Town, comfortably the worst team in the division. You can take the 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace with a pinch of salt as form and league position tends to go out the window in derby games. It then took a catastrophic goalkeeping mistake to salvage a draw against a Millwall side who are 20th in the Championship last time out.
Much better will be required against Southampton if the Albion want to avoid being sucked right back into danger.
Who are Southampton?
Southampton were formed in 1885 as the fantastically long-winded St Mary’s Church of England Young Men’s Association before switching to their much more boring current name in 1897 after winning their first Southern League title. They were first promoted to the top flight of English football in 1966 and have stayed their pretty much ever since, spending just 11 of the subsequent 53 seasons outside of the elite division. Their one and only major trophy came when they lifted the FA Cup during a rare season in the second tier when they shocked Manchester United 1-0 in the 1976 final. They finished runners up in 1984 for their highest ever league finish and moved from the Dell, their home of 103 years, to St Mary’s Stadium in 2001.
What are they like now?
Since they regained their Premier League status in 2012, Southampton have been in something of a quandary. A host of talented managers delivered top 10 finishes including Mauricio Pochetino, Ronald Koeman and Claude Puel despite the club selling off most of their best players to Liverpool during this time. This over achievement gave Saints fans an exaggerated sense of entitlement and they hounded Puel from the club despite a seventh placed finish and finish runners up in the League Cup, claiming his football was too boring. That lack of appreciation of the good job he had done well and truly returned to bite them on the arse last season as Puel’s replacement Mauricio Pellegrino failed to see out the campaign and they only survived relegation on the final day once Mark Hughes had been parachuted in. Hughes has since been sacked with Austrian boss Hasenhüttl now at the helm. He looks a good appointment, but whether he can keep up with the demands of a fan base who laughably seem to think they have a divine right to be challenging for a Europa League spot remains to be seen. There is certainly a lesson in Southampton’s recent fate for those dissenting voices who would like to see Chris Hughton moved on in the near future in favour of a more attacking manager – be careful what you wish for.
Which players should we be worried about?
Charlie Austin could have both legs amputated and his head replaced by Nigel Farrage’s and he’d still find a way to score against the Albion. His record is sensational with six goals in nine games across spells with Swindon Town, Burnley, Queens Park Rangers and Southampton. Nathan Redmond is a dangerous forward and James Ward-Prowse’s recent good form was recognised by Gareth Southgate with a late substitute cameo in England’s convincing win away in Montenegro on Monday night.
What’s the Albion’s record against Southampton like?
The draw is the most common result in the top flight, with over half of our 11 previous meetings ending in stalemate including all three of the meetings since the Albion won promotion to the Premier League. Overall, Southampton dominate the fixture with 39 wins to Brighton’s 26 whilst there have been 22 draws.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Southampton at home?
Everybody was fearing the worst when Nigel Adkins’ promotion pushing Saints arrived at the Amex on January 2nd 2012. Just 48 hours previously, the Albion had failed to register a single shot on target in going down 2-0 away at bottom of the table Coventry City in arguably the most abject performance of the Gus Poyet Era. Poyet responded by seeming to pick his team out of a hat for the Southampton game, promoting Jake Forster-Caskey from absolutely nowhere and replacing Casper “20 Marlboro” Ankergren with Sexy Pete Brezovan. The result was extraordinary as the Albion ran out convincing 3-0 winners with Forster-Caskey scoring along with a Matt Sparrow brace. Some fantastic bastard behaviour from Adam El-Abd wound Rickie Lambert up to the point where he was sent off and Gordon Greer joined him for an early bath when he decided to bring out his party trick of elbowing an opponent in the face off the ball late on.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Southampton at home?
Last season’s game at the Amex was pretty horrific. Freezing cold, a Sunday lunchtime kick off and a terrible hangover seeing as it was the day after Halloween. The football wasn’t much better either as both sides were too scared to attack for fear of losing the, resulting in a dull 1-1. Hughton and Pellegrino could’ve quite feasibly shaken hands on the draw before kick off and saved us all the bother.
Who’s played for both sides?
Dean Hammond and Dan Harding were both part of the Southampton side that finished second to the Albion in League One in 2010-11 having already confirmed their statuses as wankers firmly by that point, Harding for walking out on Brighton for “the club he’d supported as a boy” Leeds United in 2005 and Hammond for wildly celebrating scoring for the Saints in front of the Withdean South Stand in April 2010. Hammond did at least rescind said status when returning to the Albion on loan for the 2011-12 season but Harding remains on the naughty list. Silky Soviet international Sergei Gotsmanov moved from the Goldstone to the Dell when the Albion’s offer of a Lada couldn’t quite match the £150,000 Southampton were putting up in cold, hard cash and Inigo Calderon almost made the same move (without a dodgy Russian automobile involved) when agreeing a deal to move to Southampton in the summer of 2010 before having a late change of heart.
Other than football, what is Southampton famous for?
Not many people know that Southampton is home to the longest surviving stretch of medieval walls in England and it also has the largest theatre in Southern England outside London. The city is more famous for being the place from where the Titanic set sail for it’s first and last voyage and giving the world the musical talents of Craig David/David Craig.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Southampton?
Given the history of this fixture and the fact that it is a game that neither side can afford to lose, the draw seems the obvious place to start. That’s available at a best priced 12/5 with free bet no deposit sites. We’ve already mentioned Austin’s ridiculous record against the Albion but Glenn Murray has an equally impressive back catalogue against Southampton with goals in all four of his Brighton appearances against the Saints to date. You can take him to score anytime at 9/5.
Prediction
A repeat of last season’s meeting between the two at the Amex which finished 1-1. Then we can all get back to talking about Wembley.
