MATCH PREVIEW: West Ham United vs Southampton

By SFC Media time Mon 28 Dec Club

saintsfc.co.uk provides the lowdown ahead of Southampton's trip to West Ham United in the Barclays Premier League.

Southampton will be looking to end 2015 with back-to-back victories following an impressive 4-0 win against Arsenal on Boxing Day.

West Ham United are the side who will be looking to prevent Ronald Koeman’s side from doing just that at the Boleyn Ground on Monday.

Two goals from Shane Long, a wondergoal from Cuco Martina and a header from José Fonte saw Saints see off Arsenal to end a run of five Premier League games without a win.

The Hammers, meanwhile, have drawn all five of their last five Barclays Premier League fixtures – the latest of those being a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa on Boxing Day.

The point for Slaven Bilic’s side means they sit two points and two places above Saints in the table heading into Monday evening’s game in London.

Last season, Koeman picked up his first league win in charge of Saints thanks to a 3-1 success against the Hammers. Morgan Schneiderlin scored twice and Graziano Pellè added a late third to seal an impressive three points.

Ronald Koeman confirmed following the game against Arsenal that Graziano Pellè and Cédric will miss out again, while he has hinted previously at making changes due to the short turnaround between the two games.

West Ham will be without the influential Dimitri Payet through injury, while Winston Reid, Victor Moses and Diafra Sakho are also set to miss out against Saints.

Cheikou Kouyate – an international teammate of Southampton’s Sadio Mané – plays an important role at the heart of the Hammers midfield.

The 26 year-old joined from Anderlecht in 2014 and has scored a number of important goals since arriving at the Boleyn Ground.

He has already grabbed three goals in his 14 Premier League appearances so far this season – finding the net against Arsenal, Bournemouth and Norwich City.

At 6ft 4in, the midfielder has the height to cause Saints plenty of problems from set-pieces on Monday evening.

The last three Premier League games between these two sides at the Boleyn Ground have produced a total of 13 goals.

None of the last 12 Premier League games between these two played at West Ham’s ground have ended in a draw.

Southampton are aiming to win successive league away games at West Ham for the first time since 1992.

Shane Long has scored five and assisted two goals in his last seven Premier League starts for Southampton.

The last time Saints won their final league game in a calendar year was in 2010 – a 4-1 victory over Huddersfield Town.

José Fonte has scored 15 goals during his time with Southampton, including one in the win against Arsenal, and the defender is yet to be on the losing side with Saints when finding the net.

 

Tickets are sold out for the trip to the Boleyn Ground.

You can follow all the action from Monday's game via the club’s social media channels. We’ll have live updates on Twitter, goal updates on Facebook and a liveblog running on saintsfc.co.uk .

After the game, we’ll have reaction on youtube.com/southamptonfc, as well as saintsfc.co.uk .

#WeMarchOn



Sport Republic announces organisational changes
Club

Sport Republic announces organisational changes

Statement from the club's ownership.

timeMon 22 May
John Flood: 1932-2023 A statement from our owners Video: Spacey-Cale reflects on debut season video05:38
video
Women's First Team

Video: Spacey-Cale reflects on debut season

Marieanne Spacey-Cale talks through first Championship season.

Livramento on never losing confidence Edozie and Young Lions kickstart U20 World Cup campaign