EPL Soccer: Southampton vs. Ipswich Town:
Week 5 of the English Premier League begins on Saturday, September 21, with a matchup between 17th-place Ipswich Town and 19th-place Southampton, as the two teams battle to stay out of the EPL relegation zone.
How to Watch Southampton vs. Ipswich Town
Where: PEACOCK
When: Saturday 10:00 a.m. ET
Southampton vs. Ipswich Town Odds
Southampton +118 // Ipswich Town +220
Total: 2.5 (-132/+105)
Two of the newly promoted sides clash at St Mary’s this weekend, and as expected, both sit in the bottom four going into this round of fixtures. Southampton posted a fourth straight defeat in as many league games against Manchester United last weekend. Also, yet to win a league game this season, Ipswich make the journey to the south-coast fourth from bottom with two points on the board after successive draws. Considering their first two games were against Liverpool and Manchester City it is little more than most expected.
The Tractor Boys 0-0 draw at Brighton last weekend was not only a welcome point but also the added boost of a first clean sheet of the season.
My view of this meeting is that it is huge but not one both sides must win – more one neither can afford to lose.
The Saints would get their first point on the board, and it would be seen as a building block to progress, especially with what look like winnable fixtures against Bournemouth and Leicester coming up. For Ipswich, it would extend their unbeaten run to three games and keep that two-point buffer between them and one of their EPL relegation rivals.
The stats from this season show that these teams are the two lowest scorers in the EPL, with Southampton hitting the back of the net once from their four games and Ipswich twice.
Russell Martin has yet to see his side score on home soil. Their most comparable game to facing Ipswich was their 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, in which they posted the lowest expected goals rating (0.21) of any club in the top flight so far this campaign. The Saints couldn’t break down Newcastle on the opening weekend despite playing against 10 men for more than an hour.
Kieran McKenna’s men have shown little in attack across their four games, regularly posting xG of less than 1.0. When these two met here last season at a similar time (the 7th round of games), it ended in a 1-0 away win.
In summary, we have the two lowest scorers in the division, two sides destined to be fighting EPL relegation all season, two teams I wouldn’t trust in goal-scoring markets, and we are able to back Under 2.5 goals at plus money. That looks great value.
EPL Best Bet: Southampton vs. Ipswich Town – Under 2.5 Goals at +105.
