Southampton vs Aston Villa Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Southampton became the earliest ever team to be relegated from the Premier League last season on match day 31 as they now welcome a strong Aston Villa side to St Mary’s this week.
Kick-off date/time: Saturday 12th April, 2025: UK – 3:00pm / US ET – 10:00am / US PT – 7:00am
How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / US – Not televised
How to watch online: UK – Cannot be streamed / US – Peacock
Southampton Preview: Sorry Saints
Southampton suffered their 25th defeat of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign last weekend as the Saints went down by three goals to one away at a very average Tottenham Hotspur side and that means they have now conceded 74 goals in their 31 games so far this season.
The hosts have now been mathematically relegated after a genuinely horrible campaign and Ivan Juric has also now departed with the worst record of ever manager to have been in charge of ten or more Premier League games.
Aston Villa Preview: Focus on Europe
Aston Villa had been on a seven-match winning streak across all competitions before the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes in midweek, whereby they were beaten by three goals to one in the Parisien capital.
Villa took a first-half lead against the run of play in that game via Morgan Rogers but Desire Doue did score an excellent equaliser before the break before second-half strikes from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes sealed the first-leg victory for PSG.
Southampton Team News: Downes suspended
Former Swansea City midfielder Flynn Downes is now missing through suspension due to an accumulation of ten yellow cards so he is banned for the next two matches. Albert Gronbaek has been unavailable but Rusk has suggested that Saints now have a 'fairly clean bill of health', although Charlie Taylor is out injured.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis, Manning; Ugochukwu, Aribo; Dibling, Fernandes, Sulemana; Archer
Unavailable: Taylor (Injured), Downes (Suspended)
Questionable: Gronbaek (Injured)
Aston Villa Team News: Potential rotation
Unai Emery rotated heavily between last weekend's clash and their trip to Paris in midweek, making eight changes to their eleven across those two matches. There is a possibility that Leon Bailey could be back involved for this weekend, having edged towards full training throughout the last week.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Garcia, Disasi, Mings, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Malen, Asensio, Ramsey; Watkins
Unavailable:
Questionable: Bailey (Injured)
Southampton vs Aston Villa Prediction
Southampton will head into the final few weeks of the season with Simon Rusk at the helm on an interim basis. He also took charge earlier this season and oversaw their 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the EFL Cup before a goalless draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage. That suggests he may be able to get something of a tune out of the players in the final seven games and they do come up against a potentially rotated and probably distracted Villa side. That said, Villa should still win as they chase UEFA Champions League qualification once again.
Southampton vs Aston Villa Tip: Aston Villa to win & both teams to score
