Score prediction: Saints to beat Preston as the league’s worst defence awaits
Preston have conceded 30 in 14 league games. They have scored 12, which makes them a hard side to fear and an easy one to pick points up from...on paper.
Where the goals come from
Southampton have had 15 different goalscorers this season, and Sam Edozie became the latest on Tuesday night. That spread explains why Larin’s hamstring has not wrecked anything.
Saints scored three at West Ham without him and four against QPR, with a midfielder, a centre-back and a left-back all getting on the scoresheet.
Now put that next to a defence that leaks goals for fun, and Sports Mole land on 3-1 to Saints.
The table points the same way. Take away the four-point deduction and Southampton would be top on goal difference. Preston today are there for the taking.
Southampton can start quickly away from home. Kuryu Matsuki scored inside two minutes at West Ham and James Bree added another before the quarter-hour, so Preston’s nervous back line may be tested straight away.
What could make the prediction look silly?
Bolton at St Mary’s on the 17th October is the cautionary tale. Gavin Bazunu, who left Southampton for Bolton at the end of August, kept a clean sheet against his old club and Saints could find no way through.
Away form carries a warning as well. Sports Mole’s preview has two wins, three draws and two defeats from seven league trips, a record that looks mid-table for a side with promotion hopes.
And the first half at West Brom? Saints Marching’s five learnings describe a side that never got a shot on goal before the interval, and Eckert admitted afterwards that his players showed the opposition too much respect. Do that at Deepdale and a desperate home crowd starts to believe.
Preston will be short in the middle of the park. Leo Leroy is suspended, and Johnny Kenny pulled up with a hamstring problem after twelve minutes against Sheffield United.
Southampton’s own absentees are the bigger unknown. Larin finishes the one-on-ones, and Lewis Dobbin spurned one of those late on at West Brom, which could have lifted Saints to third.
Caspar Jander needs a fitness check on his muscular problem before he can play any part.
The prediction is 3-0. Eckert asked for three points, and the opposition’s record says he should collect them.
The one way this unravels is the opening twenty minutes. Score first and Preston’s crowd goes quiet; let them hang around and the mood at Deepdale turns on a side that has already lost eleven times.
