Nottingham Forest vs Southampton Prediction 19 January 2025

🔊 Is another defeat for Southampton just around the corner? In the 22nd round of the EPL, the perennial underdog will visit one of the season's biggest surprises. The match will take place on January 19 at the “City Ground” stadium. Bookmakers do not think Nottingham will face any issues, predicting a convincing victory for the "Foresters". However, the "Saints" have not yet resigned to their fate and will make every effort to earn points and increase their chances of staying in the elite.

📊 Head-to-Head

The current history of head-to-head encounters between Nottingham and Southampton consists of three matches, all of which were won by the "Foresters" - twice in the season before last (1:0; 4:3), and also in the first round of the current campaign (1:0). Given such a one-sided statistic and the current standings of the teams, a bet on a home victory seems like a sure thing.

🔴 Nottingham Forest

The season is far from over, and it's not certain that Nottingham can maintain the frantic pace they set from the start. However, Nuno Espírito Santo's team has already achieved a remarkable feat by stopping the best team in the world twice. In the last round, they once again took points from Liverpool (1:1). Yes, the opponent created far more chances and had an expected goals tally of 2.72, but the "Foresters" held firm. A significant role in this success was played by the outstanding Mathew Sels. Currently, the home team's goalkeeper leads the Premier League in two key metrics: clean sheets (9) and save percentage (75.9%). Aside from the extremely reliable performance of their goalkeeper, Nottingham fans are also pleased with the almost complete lack of injuries. Only Sangaré remains in the infirmary.

⚪ Southampton

The arrival of Ivan Jurić did not have the desired impact on Southampton's results. The team has won only 1 out of 5 matches under the Croatian's leadership, and that was not in the Premier League. It was a victory over Swansea in the FA Cup (3:0). All other matches were losses for the "Saints". However, it is worth noting that in the last round, they managed a very respectable away game at "Old Trafford". Until the 82nd minute, the underdog led in score, but a one-goal difference was not enough to secure points. Southampton created many chances and should have scored more, but their finishing let them down. This problem has haunted them throughout the season and will likely follow them to the Championship. Additionally, their injury list has decreased recently. Only Stephens, Stewart, and Bazunu remain out of action.

⚽️ Goal Prediction

Whether Nuno Espírito Santo bets on an early goal is not known for sure. But the fact is that his team has been scoring before halftime for 6 consecutive matches, often doing so very quickly (before the 15th minute). Why not continue this trend in a home game against an underdog? Our betting option is a Nottingham goal in the 1st half.

🚩 Corner Prediction

Let's pay attention to trends uniting the opponents. Total over 8.5 corners has occurred in 9 out of Nottingham's last 10 home matches, as well as in 12 out of Southampton's last 14 away games. We won't argue with statistics and will use this bet.

📝 Match Prediction

It is important to note that Nottingham not only wins most of their matches but often keeps a clean sheet. They have conceded just one goal in their last 6 matches, and that was against Liverpool. Southampton, on the other hand, has scored only 13 times since the start of the championship and hasn't become more productive under Jurić. Therefore, there are significant doubts about both an away goal and their ability to fight for points. We believe that the "Foresters" will not give up their advantage and will defeat the "Saints" even more convincingly than in the first round. We see a final score of 3:0, with an optimal bet being Nottingham Forest individual total over 1.5 goals.