Walsall vs Southend Predictions

Back at the start of the season, there may have been some optimism from Saddlers fans, as their side made a reasonably bright start, though they’re now hoping for nothing other than survival. Walsall, who’ve lost each of their last six, find themselves three points from safety. A win against a Southend side that is just a point above them in the table is a must.

Walsall have been poor this season, there can be no denying that. They’ve struggled to keep teams at bay, while they’ve also struggled to create more than they’ve conceded. However, a couple of their recent performances have been slightly encouraging, or at least more encouraging than anything that Southend have come up with in recent weeks.

For all they’ve lost six on the bounce, Walsall have fought during that time; they’ve scored in five of their last six and have had some unlucky single-goal defeats, which is more than can be said for Southend, who’ve found it very difficult to both compete and score goals of late.

In their last home match, the Saddlers didn’t exactly struggle to create scoring chances, as they posted a very respectable 2.37 expected goals for. A repeat of that effort would surely see them do well on Friday. In fact, when they created 1.69 at home against Barnsley prior to that, they impressed offensively too. Their end-product needs to improve, but a home match against a poor Shrimpers side provides the hosts with the perfect opportunity to do just that.

While Walsall have at least shown some attacking encouragement of late, Southend have been nothing short of woeful in the final third. Somehow, they managed to score twice in their most recent away match, but the fact that they clocked just 0.66 expected goals for tells us that they weren’t exactly a creative force. Moreover, the Shrimpers have scored in just one of their last five matches. During that rather unfruitful spell, they’ve posted poor expected goals for numbers of 0.33, 0.66, 0.47, 0.24 and 1.23.

In addition to struggling massively in the final third, Southend have struggled to keep teams at bay of late, especially on the road. Friday’s visitors have conceded at least twice in each of their last four travelling matches, shipping expected goals numbers of 2.03, 2.83, 2.5, 1.66 and 0.77.

At the end of the day, this is a match between two struggling teams. That said, Walsall’s efforts of late, especially at this venue, have been better than Southend’s. In terms of creativity, it is the hosts who’ve offered more, and it’s that extra creativity which could make all the difference on Friday. All in all, there’s more to like about Walsall, so much so that they could even be a tad shorter in the betting. Backing the hosts to give themselves a chance of surviving by beating poor opposition looks to be the best option.