Sunday 15th September
15:00
St Mary's
Southampton vs West Ham United
Analysis
The perfect tonic to a somewhat bleak international break for West Ham would be a victory on the south coast against recent rivals Southampton.
I'm not really sure how it's happened, but there are plenty of West Ham fans who have grown to loathe the Saints in recent years. For me, now that Adkins has gone and Billy Sharp doesn't get a sniff, I just think of Southampton as a rather likeable, decent side.
The reasons I like Southampton are the exact reasons why I'm a touch scared of them. The very aggressive, attacking fullbacks, the ball playing defensive midfielders, the classy widemen, and a couple of 'proper' strikers.
There's been a lot of pessimism around this game, and it's easy to see why. But, it's not impossible to beat this lot at St Mary's.
If we are to get something from this game, one man we will need to be quiet is 18 year old James Ward-Prowse. In his 15 premier league appearances last season (4 starts) he managed to grab one assist and created 10 chances for his team. Not bad going in 493 minutes of league football.
This season, however, Ward-Prowse has stepped it up a gear. He's already played 269 minutes of football in Southampton's opening three games, grabbing an assist and creating 8 chances for his team. Against Sunderland alone, he created 5 chances.
Although he was actually playing in the middle in that game, the majority of the chances he created came from the right wing, whipping balls in to his strikers. And that is where Ward-Prowse, and Southampton as a team, can really hurt the opposition. Midfielders are given a free reign to drift about and switch positions. The image below shows Ward-Prowse's action map against Sunderland. As you can see, he wasn't tethered to the centre of midfield, and spent time all over the pitch.
With players like Ward-Prowse, Gaston Ramirez and Adam Lallana getting the ball into the box, Southampton can certainly create chances. But, as West Ham fans will be painfully aware, creating chances doesn't necessarily equate to scoring goals.
Southampton though, have two extremely proficient goalscorers to call upon. We've all seen in recent times how Rickie Lambert has adapted to challenge after challenge to climb to the upper echelons of the footballing pyramid, and they now have the Italian Dani Osvaldo among their ranks too.
Neither have really hit the ground running for Southampton this season (1 penalty scored in 5 appearances between them), but their recent records mean we should still be wary.
Last season, the pair managed 31 league goals between them. 28 of these came from inside the 18 yard box. If West Ham are to keep this pair quiet, they will need to keep them away from the box.
Below are images displaying the goals they each scored last season. First up is Lambert. Other than the fact that 13 of his 15 came from within the box, what is noticeable is that the vast majority came from the centre, in front of the goal. Whilst many strikers these days peel off and attack from the wide positions, Lambert is a traditional centre forward, getting right in the danger zone to get on the score sheet.
The second image shows Osvaldo's goals. Again, the vast majority (15 of 16) came inside the 18 yard box, but the big difference to Lambert is that Osvaldo scored a number of goals from wider angles.
What is abundantly clear though, is that you can't give this pair too many chances in the area, if you want to get anything from a game.
Despite possessing a strong all round team, there are areas in which Southampton are vulnerable. Defensively, there are errors in this Saints side.
Unusually, they used three goalkeepers last season before settling on the eccentric Artur Boruc as their number one. The two attacking fullbacks, Clyne and Shaw, are both very young and still have errors in their game, and their centre back pairing of last season, Fonte & Yoshida, also had a season littered with mistakes.
Although Dejan Lovren has been brought in to add some steel to the defence, the Croatian isn't error free either. He only made 18 league appearances for Lyon last season, making two key errors, with one leading to a goal conceded.
The image below shows mistakes made by Southampton's main back five last season. As you can see, between them they made 15 mistakes leading to shots on goal, 6 of which led directly to goals.
There is absolutely no reason we can't beat Southampton.
Defensively, we are one of the best sides in the division, we have the ability to create numerous chances in a game, and we have one of the top finishers in the country (Kevin Nolan). When we click, we can be wonderful.
That said, I'm filled with dread at this fixture. The rivalry felt by West Ham fans towards Southampton goes the other way too, and I'd hate for them to be celebrating come Sunday afternoon.
I always make a prediction before the game, and I'm usually completely wrong. Bearing that in mind, I'm going for a 2-0 Southampton win.
Let's hope the Hammers can prove me wrong.
Head to Head
29% Head to Head Win % 43%
42 Won 62
39 Drawn 39
62 Lost 42
202 Goals Scored 248
248 Goals Conceded 202
Recent Form
D D W D W L Last 6 L W W D W L
8 Goals Scored 8
5 Goals Conceded 6
W W D L D D Home/Away Form L D D L L D
8 Goals Scored 2
8 Goals Conceded 5
Form Player (All Comps)
Dejan Lovren - James Collins
3 Appearances 3
0 Goals & Assists 0
0 Chances Created 1
85% Pass Completion % 62%
9 Defensive Actions PG 12
77% Aerial Duel Success 54%
100% Tackle Success 82%
Last Meeting
04 May 2013
1-0 Gaston Ramirez 59'
1-1 Andy Carroll 66'
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1
Starting XI
Artur Boruc - Jussi Jääskeläinen
Nathaniel Clyne - Guy Demel
Maya Yoshida - James Collins
Jos Hooiveld - James Tomkins
Danny Fox - Joey O'Brien
Jack Cork - Gary O'Neil
Morgan Schneiderlin - Mohamed Diamé
Gaston Ramirez - Ricardo Vâz Te
Adam Lallana - Kevin Nolan
Steven Davis - Matt Jarvis
Rickie Lambert - Andy Carroll
Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
Southampton: Jos Hooiveld
West Ham United: Alou Diarra, Joe Cole, Stewart Downing, Andy Carroll
Suspensions
Southampton: n/a
West Ham United: n/a
Opposition Last Time Out
vs Norwich City
Goals Scored: 0
Goals Conceded: 1
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1
Artur Boruc
Calum Chambers Jose Fonte Dejan Lovren Danny Fox
Morgan Schneiderlin Victor Wanyama
James Ward-Prowse Pablo Osvaldo Adam Lallana
Rickie Lambert
subs: Kelvin Davis, Nathaniel Clyne, Luke Shaw, Maya Yoshida, Steven Davis, Gaston Ramirez, Jay Rodriguez
Best Player: James Ward-Prowse
Squawka Rating: 90
Worst Player: Victor Wanyama
Squawka Rating: -13
Top 5's (2013/14 so far..)
Goals Scored
Rickie Lambert 1 - 1 Joe Cole
Jose Fonte 1 - 1 Kevin Nolan
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-
-
Assists
James Ward-Prowse 1 - 1 Matt Jarvis
- 1 Mark Noble
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-
-
Passing Accuracy
Steven Davis 93.8% - 85% Ravel Morrison
James Ward-Prowse 87.4% - 83.6% Stewart Downing
Morgan Schneiderlin 86.9% - 81.3% Kevin Nolan
Dejan Lovren 84.3% - 80.4% Matt Jarvis
Victor Wanyama 84.1% - 79.6% Mark Noble
Chances Created per game
James Ward-Prowse 2.7 - 1.7 Matt Jarvis
Rickie Lambert 1.3 - 1.3 Mark Noble
Adam Lallana 1 - 1.3 Stewart Downing
Morgan Schneiderlin 0.7 - 1.3 Modibo Maïga
Gaston Ramirez 0.7 - 0.7 Guy Demel
Successful Dribbles per game
Adam Lallana 1.3 - 2.7 Mohamed Diamé
Pablo Osvaldo 1 - 1.5 Joe Cole
Calum Chambers 0.7 - 1.3 Mark Noble
Dejan Lovren 0.7 - 1.3 Modibo Maïga
Jay Rodriguez 0.7 - 1 Ravel Morrison
Tackles per game
Dejan Lovren 3 - 3.7 James Collins
Calum Chambers 2.3 - 2 Mohamed Diamé
Adam Lallana 2 - 2 Guy Demel
Morgan Schneiderlin 1.7 - 1.7 Mark Noble
Victor Wanyama 1.3 - 1.7 Kevin Nolan
Aerial Duels Won per game
Dejan Lovren 5.7 - 9 Modibo Maïga
Jose Fonte 4.3 - 4.3 James Collins
Rickie Lambert 2.3 - 4.3 Winston Reid
Morgan Schneiderlin 1.7 - 3 Joey O'Brien
Victor Wanyama 1.7 - 1.5 Joe Cole
Manager
Mauricio Pochettino - Sam Allardyce
30% Current Club Win % 43.2%
6 Won 42
8 Drawn 26
6 Lost 29
32.5% Managerial Career Win % 40.1%
59 Won 336
46 Drawn 225
76 Lost 276
0 League Titles 2
0 Cup Wins 0
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