Birmingham v Southampton Preview

Posted on | March 6, 2009 | No Comments

While this would have seemed something of a straight forward fixture a few weeks ago, Southampton’s form of late means that home side Birmingham aren’t now clear cut favourites. The Blues may have just won their last game and risen to 2nd, yet before that their form was sticky and with Saints recording three straight victories – this could be one of the weekend’s more interesting fixtures.

Alex McLeish has received a lot of stick from his own supporters in recent weeks, with the Blues’ return of one win in six before Tuesday not satisfying the St Andrews faithful. The club now might be up to 2nd, but with 3rd place Reading having two games in hand, their position is by no means safe. However, their latest victory against a Bristol City side doing fairly well at the moment will have done wonders for their confidence and they’ll be hoping to take that into the final stretch of the season. McLeish will know that with fixtures against Southampton, Barnsley and Doncaster in the next couple of weeks, his side have an excellent chance to strengthen their position by beating some of the sides battling against the drop at the bottom.

As for Southampton, the last few weeks could prove to be huge in their bid to beat the drop. It wasn’t so long ago that Saints looked down and out but Mark Wotte has now recorded three straight wins which means they sit just two points away from safety. With Wotte’s men also having a game in hand over 21st placed Blackpool, it would be fair to say that these recent results have made a huge impact on Southampton’s season and without them they could have been down and out. With all three of their opponents being in the top half as well, it could well be that Saints have turned a corner under their new manager and brighter times are ahead for the St Mary’s outfit.

The home side have a few problems coming into this one though with Radhi Jaidi and David Murphy both doubtful while Garry O’Connor definitely won’t feature due to a groin problem. As for Saints, they also have a couple of concerns. Dutch centre half Jan-Paul Saeijs is struggling with injury, as is midfielder Adam Lallana who didn’t play midweek. However, the St Mary’s outfit have said that despite the fact that both have struggled in the week, they are hopeful of both featuring in some capacity tomorrow.

While Southampton have recorded some fantastic results recently, we still think Birmingham will see them off here. They have a much stronger squad and having beaten Bristol City midweek, their confidence should be high heading into this one – 2-0 Blues.

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1. Southampton v Birmingham Preview
2. Leicester v Southampton Preview
3. Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday Preview
4. Southampton v Charlton Preview
5. Watford v Southampton Preview

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