Why you should play this
Southampton welcome West Brom to the south coast in the second leg to see who will join Leeds in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on the 26th May. The first leg ended in a goalless draw which leaves the game wide open for either team to progress at the chance to return to the Premier League. Unlike the game on Sunday, I expect a more attacking game based on these side’s statistics this season. I’m backing Both Teams To Score, here’s why.
Southampton’s key strikers
When West Brom travelled to Southampton earlier on in the season, The Saints ended the day as 2-1 winners with Southampton top goal scorer Adam Armstrong netting the deciding goal. However, the striker has only scored once in his last nine matches. He will need to display his attacking abilities on home soil once more if The saints want to chance at returning straight back to England’s top division. Che Adams on the other hand has picked up the slack with six goals in April helping Southampton reach the play-offs.
Both sides form
The home side’s impressive form tailed off towards the end of the season as they won just once in their last four games of the campaign, could possibly be a sign of fatigue after such a long season with games coming thick and fast. The 0-0 at West Brom would be a favourable result to take back to St Mary’s in front of their home support. Will the fans be able to give The Saints that much needed boost?
West Brom too felt the effects of a long season as they had a nervy end to the regular season finishing 5th place but only picking up nine points out of a total 24 winning just twice in the last eight games. However, they’ll be up for this and know that they can qualify against a side with defensive frailties.
Our tip for this game
At home, Southampton have seen seven of their last eight games see BTTS whereas West Brom away from home have seen similar numbers with seven of their last nine games on the road resulting in both sides finding the back of the net. So 1.80 is a nice price for this market and in what looks to be an entertaining match at St Marys.
