Bournemouth vs Southampton prediction: Cherries can claim south coast spoils | OneFootball

The south coast derby brings an end to match week six as Southampton travel to Bournemouth on Monday night still looking for their first league win of the season (8pm, Sky Sports Main Event).

The Saints have found life hard since returning to the top flight and claimed their only point of this season so far when being held to a 1-1 draw at home to fellow new boys Ipswich Town.

That result saw their odds on betting sites for relegation cut to 2/5 as they prepare to embark on a tough run of games featuring trips to Arsenal and Manchester City.

A return of two goals from 18 shots on target will have disappointed Russell Martin too, but more worryingly is that they have conceded nine, including three against both Brentford and Manchester United.

But as we know, they play some “lovely football” and are actually second in the stats when it comes to the number of passes in the league so far. They have completed 2898, which is behind only the champions and current league leaders Manchester City.

Unfortunately, though, that counts for nothing if the ball doesn’t end up in the back of the net, or you keep making mistakes and allow the opposition in.

Bournemouth have had a mixed start to the season with two draws against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle followed up by that remarkable 3-2 win over Everton.

Since then, they’ve been beaten by Chelsea and Liverpool, failing to score in both matches despite acquitting themselves well going forward.

They’ll hope to get back amongst the goals against Southampton, but don’t have the best record when hosting their fellow south coast side.

It’s just one win in the last 66 years for Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, coming in 2016. The last five meetings in all competitions have been won by the away, but football betting sites expect that run to end on Monday with the Cherries a best-price of 4/6.

Bournemouth generated 2.16 expected goals in their last home game - a 1-0 loss to Chelsea - and registered as many attempts on goal in last week’s loss at Liverpool (19-19) so are getting into the right positions.

It’s tough to see how Southampton keep out Andoni Iraola’s men, but the hosts may have more luck shutting out the Saints in a fixture which has seen the winner register a clean sheet in the last four meetings.

Bournemouth midfielder Marcus Tavernier is never scared to shoot and, so far, he has fired off 15 shots, six on target in just five games, resulting in one goal.

It is the only goal the Cherries have scored in the first half of a league game this season and helped his side to a 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle.

Last season, in the 30 games he played he scored just three goals and had 16 shots on target, so he is well ahead of schedule to beat those numbers this time around.

He is clearly enjoying this more attacking style of play under Iraola and looking to get forward whenever he can.

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