Southampton Match Preview

Ten days after drawing with AFC Bournemouth at The Vitality Stadium, West Ham United return to the South Coast to take on newly-promoted Southampton at St Mary’s for this year’s Boxing Day fixture.

In his second spell in charge of the Hammers, David Moyes never managed a victory here so can Julen Lopetegui change that particular statistic and give the travelling support some post-Christmas cheer?

Lopetegui’s men have already beaten one of the two newly-promoted sides that they have faced as they put Ipswich Town to the sword by beating them 4-1 back on October 5.

The Saints have recently appointed former AS Roma Head-Coach Ivan Jurić to replace Russell Martin, who left the club shortly after their last top-flight home game following the 5-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. We all know what happened at the start of the month when the Irons faced another of the Premier League’s newcomers in Leicester City and the away fans will be hoping that their team will remain focused and not drop points here.

Although the visitors have had one extra day’s preparation ahead of this game, Jurić’s new team will be desperate for a win as they have only picked up one, together with three draws since the current season got underway on August 17.

Since moving to Stratford in August 2016, West Ham have only played one home game on Boxing Day in 2021 and that was a 3-2 defeat to the Saints. The travelling Claret and Blue Army will hope that their team can do better this time around.

Lopetegui has had to cope with a number of suspensions in recent weeks and he has another one here, as Lucas Paquetá will sit out this encounter, meaning that the man who missed the game against Brighton and Hove Albion five days earlier, Carlos Soler is the most likely to replace him. Crysencio Summerville may also come into the starting line-up if the Spaniard decides to make changes ahead of Sunday’s home clash with current leaders Liverpool.

Konstantinos Mavropanos was taken off at half-time in the game against the Seagulls, as he had been booked but after the game, news emerged that he had also sustained a slight injury which means he will need to be assessed and if he is not deemed fit enough, then either Jean-Clair Todibo or Vladimír Coufal will take his place.

It is expected that Flynn Downes will face his former club for the first time since leaving East London to secure a permanent move to Hampshire in July.

The match is a 3pm kick-off and live coverage will be screened by Amazon Prime Video with build-up starting at 2:30pm. The referee is Lewis Smith.