Southampton vs Nottingham Prediction & Betting Tips (24 August)

Last season, Southampton experienced difficulties at the end of the Championship season, making their task more difficult with 3 defeats in the last 4 days. These results prevented them from entering the Premier League directly, forcing them to go through the play-offs. After a 0-0 away draw against West Brom, the Saints won the second leg 3-1. In the final against Leeds, they clinched the promotion thanks to a narrow 1-0 victory. This summer, the team won 4 of their 7 friendlies, including against Eastleigh 1-7, Bordeaux 2-3, Montpellier 1-3 and Millwall 0-1. Finally, Southampton were held to a draw by Lazio 1-1 and Getafe 0-0. However, for the opening of the season, despite their domination, the Saints lost to Newcastle 1-0, failing to take advantage of the numerical inferiority of their opponents. Last season, Nottingham were not lived up to expectations, finishing in 17th place, just above the relegated teams, 7 points behind Brentford, partly due to the 4 penalty points awarded to them.

A slight improvement was felt towards the end of the season, with wins against relegated Sheffield 1-3 and Burnley 1-2, and an encouraging defeat against Chelsea 2-3. Before that, Nottingham had suffered a difficult run of 4 games without a win against Tottenham 3-1, Wolves 2-2, Everton 2-0 and Manchester City 0-2. In domestic cups, their performance was mixed, only reaching the round of 16 in the FA Cup. In their summer preparation, the Tricky Trees began with a 0-3 win over Chesterfield, before a 1-1 draw with Sunderland, followed by a 2-1 win over Milwall and a 1-1 loss to Elche. 0. Their last two friendlies ended in a draw against Villarreal 0-0 and a spectacular victory against Olympiakos, the reigning Conference League champions, with a score of 3-4. To open the new season, Nottingham picked up a good draw against Bournemouth. 

Southampton, for a team that has just been promoted, has a rather solid squad. We notice the return from loan of interesting players, like Carlos Alcaraz, Paul Onuachu and Bella-Kotchap. In terms of arrivals, some great recruits should strengthen the team, notably Harwood-Bellis, the young defender from Manchester City, as well as Championship talents Nathan Wood and Ronnie Edwards. Full-backs Sugawara (PSV) and Taylor (Burnley) provide additional stability in defense, while Lallana makes his comeback to the club after his time at Brighton. The recruitment of Brereton Diaz (Villarreal) and Sugawara (AZ Alkmaar) completes the squad. These reinforcements are in addition to the executives already present such as Bednarek, captain Stephens, as well as midfielders Charles and Aribo. In attack, the team can count on Sulemana (former Rennais), Ross Stewart, the Frenchman Mara and Adam Armstrong, author of 24 goals and 13 assists in the Championship last season. However, it should be noted the important departure of Che Adams, who scored 16 goals and delivered 4 assists during the club's rise, and who signed freely with Torino. Caleta-Car, loaned to OL last season, has joined the Lyon club permanently. For today's match, Southampton will have to deal without Bazunu, their starting goalkeeper and Irish international, as well as Sulemana, both injured. Stewart and Lallana are doubtful after missing the first day.

There have been several notable departures from Nottingham. Among them, the loaned players who returned to their respective clubs: Reyna, Tavares, Montiel, Origi and Ribeiro. In addition, defender Niakhaté and midfielder Mangala headed to OL, while Freuler was transferred to Bologna. Defenders Mbe Soh and McKenna have also left the ship. To compensate for these losses, Nottingham has already signed several players, notably Anderson from Newcastle for 40 million, as well as Milenkovic, who arrived from Fiorentina. Bets were also attempted with the arrivals of Stamenic (Red Star), Carlos Miguel (Corinthians), Eric Da Silva Moreira (St Pauli) and recently Jota Silva (Guimarães) for nearly 10 million. These new recruits reinforce an already solid squad with players like Neco Williams, Murillo and Omobamidele in defense, as well as Sangaré, Danilo and Gibbs-White in the middle. In attack, we find key players such as Hudson Odoi (8 goals last season), Elanga (5 goals, 9 assists), Awoniyi (6 goals, 3 assists) and especially Wood (14 goals), who has was also the only scorer for his team on the first day against Bournemouth. No player appears to be missing for Nottingham this Saturday.