Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion preview: Leonardo Ulloa available for debut
Wednesday 31 January 2018 18:51, UK
Leonardo Ulloa is fit and available for Brighton's trip to Southampton after re-joining the club on loan from Leicester City, three-and-a-half years after leaving the Amex.
Chris Hughton has no worries about the striker's fitness despite the fact he has only featured for 19 minutes in the Premier League this season.
"He's in the squad and we are happy with his levels," said Hughton at his pre-match press conference.
"We have found it difficult to get the goals we need to win games, so to have that competition and options in that position is definitely something we wanted.
"We know the type of player he is and what he will bring to the squad. He has gained great experience in the last few years in the games he has been involved with.
"We want him to bring that quality and experience to us."
Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino has played down reports linking Manolo Gabbiadini with a January move to Bologna saying he wants to keep the Italian striker.
Pellegrino has also described the club's connection with Spartak Moscow winger Quincy Promes as "speculation", but he is focused on securing three points against the Seagulls.
He said on the transfer links: "We have been working on many players, to bring players with quality. With two days left, it's not easy.
"The most important thing right now is belief in the dressing room that we are growing as a team, and learning and improving in all different aspects."
Team news
Southampton will make a late decision on whether to select Ryan Bertrand and Guido Carrillo but despite Charlie Austin returning to training, the game comes too soon for him following his hamstring problem.
Maya Yoshida is fit again after overcoming a hamstring injury while Shane Long has shrugged off an illness to feature.
Brighton's club-record signing Jurgen Locadia will have to wait a little bit longer to make his debut as he remains absent due to a hamstring injury. The Dutchman should return to training next week, though.
The Seagulls are waiting to discover the extent of the ankle injury suffered by winger Jiri Skalak against Middlesbrough at the weekend.
Izzy Brown (knee) and Steve Sidwell (back) are long-term absentees.
Opta stats
- After winning two of their first three top-flight clashes against Brighton, Southampton have won just one of the last six (D3 L2).
- Brighton have failed to score in their last two away league trips to Southampton, they last went three in a row without scoring there in November 1953.
- Southampton have only lost one of their last 27 Premier League home games against newly promoted teams (W17 D9) and are unbeaten in each of the last 11.
- Brighton are yet to score in their three previous Premier League midweek games (Tuesday and Wednesday), drawing 0-0 with Crystal Palace and losing 2-0 against both Tottenham and Chelsea.
- Saints are winless in their last 11 Premier League games (D6 L5), just one short of their longest ever winless run in the competition (12 games ending March 1995).
- The Seagulls have scored fewer away goals than any other Premier League side this season (5), failing to score in nine of their 12 games on the road this season, including each of the last six.
- Southampton have scored in each of their last six Premier League home games, netting nine goals in total. Their previous nine at St Mary's in the competition had come over a period of 14 games.
- Indeed, Saints have also conceded in each of those six games - only once in the Premier League have they had a longer run of both scoring and conceding in home games (8 games between February and August 2016).
- Saints have dropped a league-high nine points from leading positions in Premier League home games this season.
- Pascal Groß has had a hand in 53% of Brighton's 17 Premier League goals this season (4 goals, 5 assists), the highest ratio in the division.
Merson's prediction
Southampton have produced some good performances in the last couple of weeks. It's been much better from Mauricio Pellegrino's side but they are still in the bottom three. They desperately need a result here but it won't be easy against Brighton.
Chris Hughton's side were beaten 4-0 by Chelsea but I thought they were very unlucky in that game. It certainly wasn't a 4-0 game.
The pressure is fully on Southampton in this game. If they don't get a result the manager will be under severe pressure. It's okay winning in the cup but when you are in the bottom three you need Premier League wins and that's not easy, but I'm backing Southampton, with home advantage, to use their experience to pick up victory.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0
Betting
Shane Long heads the goalscorer betting at 4/1 while Glenn Murray is rated the visitors' main threat at 7/1 to break the deadlock.
Both sides are thought to be in danger of the drop, with the Saints priced at 4/1 to go down while Chris Hughton's men are 11/8 fourth favourites.
Wednesday night's Premier League clashes make up the midweek Super 6 line-up, with the £1million still to be won.
