Southampton host Leeds United in the Championship on Saturday, with the Saints looking for their first win in over a month. Pressure continues to mount on Russell Martin as Southampton are not where many were expecting them to be at this stage of the season, as they languish in 15th.
We pick out some of the best markets available in this second tier contest.
Team news
Southampton duo Ross Stewart and Juan Larios remain unavailable through injury. Other than that, Martin has a lot of options to choose from as his side seek their first win in four league matches.
Djed Spence, Patrick Bamford, Junior Firpo, Wilfried Gnonto and Stuart Dallas will be absent for Leeds through injury. Daniel Farke will be boosted, however, by the return of defender Joe Rodon, after serving his suspension.
Joel Piroe to score anytime @ 8/5
As Martin appears to be fighting for his future at St Mary’s, a former ally could further add to his misery this weekend. It wasn’t so long ago that Joel Piroe was scoring goals for him consistently at Swansea City, and now he could be about to score against him for Leeds United.
Piroe, who scored 41 Championship goals in two years under Martin at Swansea, has continued his form in front of goal, with four goals for the Yorkshire outfit already. He is one of the most prolific goalscorers in the second tier and he will be raring to go against the Saints, who are very low on confidence.
It feels like he is destined to score against his former manager and his role in Farke’s team is to fire them back to the Premier League.
Leeds and over 2.5 goals @ 11/5
Leeds are building momentum with experienced promotion coach Farke, and are an unbeaten run of six games in the Championship. The visitors will look to exploit Southampton’s struggles and add to their woes when they meet on Saturday.
Four of their games this term have seen a minimum of three goals in the game, and two out of Leeds’ last three fixtures have been comfortable 3-0 victories. The goal burden is being shared around the squad. Piroe has four goals to his name, Georginio Rutter has two, while Jaidon Anthony and several others have have scored once in the second tier.
Southampton are considerably out of form with four games without a win, but they still have quality players who can score goals. They might be able to inflict some damage on Leeds, but the visitors should be able to come through this one with another three points.
