Southampton vs Stoke City Predictions

• Stoke have kept a clean sheet in each of their last four visits to St Mary’s
• Southampton have won just two of their last nine league games against Stoke
• Six of the last eight meetings have finished with fewer than three goals

Steady Saints may not hit top gear

Will Still appears to have brought some stability to Southampton after their dismal Premier League campaign last season, but they face a tough game against Stoke, who have started like a train.

Both of these teams have realistic ambitions of being in the shake-up at the end of the season, but despite their strong starts, this could be a game with few goals.

There was joy at St Mary’s when they claimed a 2-1 opening victory over second-tier new boys Wrexham, but the Saints needed two late goals to secure that success and there may not be as many goals in this one, as they scored a solitary goal in a EFL Cup win over Northampton, while they had to be content with a 1-1 draw at Ipswich last week.

Table-toppers Stoke may have to scrap

Stoke find themselves at the top of the table after two games, but they also needed two injury-time goals to claim their 3-1 opening-weekend victory over Derby.

It is difficult to gauge the value of their 3-0 win at crisis-hit Sheffield Wednesday last week, and those two league games were punctuated by a penalties EFL Cup win over Walsall after a goalless 90 minutes.

So, a bet on their being under 2.5 goals at St Mary’s appears a worthwhile investment, while a contest between two closely matched teams could end in a 1-1 draw.