Match Preview: Southampton v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford face Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off GMT), in the Bees' first away game of 2025.

The Saints will be looking for their second win of the season this weekend with Ivan Jurić now in charge, as they face a Bees side who are still searching for their first victory on the road this term.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the fixture.

Pre-match analysis

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Expected Goals numbers will give Southampton hope

Brentford travel to the south coast to take on a struggling Southampton team in what could be a fifth win in a row over the Saints.

The Bees have had a difficult December but now have what could be a brief respite before upcoming games against Manchester City and Liverpool as they take on a team they have had the better of in recent encounters, with four consecutive victories over Saturday's opposition.

The Saints are now under new management with Ivan Jurić taking over from Russell Martin. Looking at the numbers, things do look bleak for Southampton this season and, should the Croatian coach manage to save the club from relegation, it would be a huge achievement.

Thomas Frank's side will travel to St Mary's Stadium knowing they will be facing a team who have lost seven of their nine games at home in the league this season. In those fixtures, Southampton have had just 85 shots (the lowest in the division) and fans have seen their team score just seven times (the joint-fewest goals at home alongside Everton).

Indeed, as Jurić looks to strengthen his defence, there will need to be work done at the top end of the pitch, with no Southampton player scoring more than twice in the top flight this season.

But the Saints should not be written off and the numbers show that, should Brentford take the bottom-placed team lightly, they may be punished.

Southampton may have scored just 12 times this season (the lowest in the league), but their Expected Goals (xG) show that things could have been different.

In total, Southampton have an xG of 23.27, which ranks them 16th in the league - not far off 15th place Nottingham Forest (27.84xG), who are enjoying very different fortunes.

If Jurić can get his forwards firing, then they should see a drastic improvement. Cameron Archer is a threat and, considering that only four players are underperforming xG more than the forward (-2.9xG), more goals are likely to flow in the future considering his quality.

On the other end of the spectrum, midfielder Joe Aribo ranks fourth in the Premier League for xG per shot for players who have had at least 10 in total. The Nigerian is averaging 0.23xG per shot (11 efforts in total) which puts him behind only Ollie Watkins, Diogo Jota, Christopher Nkunku and Brentford's Yoane Wissa - the Bees man ranks first with 0.25xG per shot.

Another one to watch is, of course, young Tyler Dibling. Opposition defences are finding it difficult to stop the teenager, who has been fouled 35 times already this year - only seven players have drawn more fouls.

Considering that Brentford have still yet to get their first league win on the road in the 2024/25 season, Southampton may view this as a big opportunity to get back on track, something the Bees will have to be wary of.

Scout report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Positive mindset required for Saints' survival hopes

Southampton’s latest 12-year stint in the Premier League came to an end in May 2023, when they were relegated under Rubén Sellés, and, even in spite of the fact they lost the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Tino Livramento, Roméo Lavia and Nathan Tella as a result, three wins from the first four games in the Championship gave the impression they would not be back in the second tier for long.

Then they lost four in a row and the rug of positivity was ripped from beneath them. “We want to give the fans a team to be proud of, but at the minute, we're going through a really tough moment,” said under-fire boss Russell Martin after the 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough on 23 September 2023.

Things flipped, though, almost in an instant. Over the course of the next five months, Saints went unbeaten in a club-record 25 games in all competitions. Coupled with Leicester’s dramatic slip, it was almost enough to make them frontrunners for automatic promotion.

As the eventual top two – the Foxes and Ipswich - got back on track, Martin’s side eventually had to settle for the play-offs, but they took it in their stride and, after an impressive semi-final second leg win over West Brom, edged past Leeds at Wembley to regain their top flight spot.

"I feel emotional and overwhelmed by the love and support I've had over the past nine or 10 months especially in the tougher times,” said Martin after the play-off win. "I had to validate the board’s decision and justify being handed the chance. I'm so pleased for them because it wasn't an exciting appointment.”

When predictions started to get made during the off-season, Southampton were immediately installed as one of the favourites to go down.

Martin has a distinct style of play, with dominance of the ball at its heart and, in hindsight, their success this season would hinge on whether or not that could be translated against the best teams in the country.

The response was rapid. In the opener against Newcastle, they had 78 per cent possession and lost 1-0. Then, against Nottingham Forest, they had 65 per cent, and lost 1-0. Against Brentford, they had 64 per cent and lost 3-1. It was attractive and gave glimpses of promise, but the results just were not there to justify its use.

Saints had to wait until their 10th league game of the season for a win, which came when Adam Armstrong struck an 85th-minute winner at home to Everton on 2 November. They were only three points from safety at that point - just seven points separated the bottom five – so there was an element of hope in the air.

Martin had sufficient credit in the bank to see him through the next run of five games without a win. After the November international break, they even came from behind to lead Liverpool, before Mohamed Salah’s brilliance eventually shook them off. But it all came to a head on 15 December when Tottenham visited St Mary’s.

With 36 seconds on the clock, James Maddison swept in the opener and with less than 15 minutes gone, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski had added a couple more. It was 5-0 at the break, with further strikes from Pape Sarr and Maddison.

The fans were leaving in their droves and many of those who had stayed started to aim their frustrations at Martin.

Little more than an hour after the final whistle, he was gone after 18 months in the job - and replaced before Christmas by former Croatia international Ivan Jurić. “I want an aggressive team and I think that fans of Southampton will like that,” he said after his appointment on an 18-month contract.

His first two games, against West Ham and Crystal Palace, have resulted in another two defeats, meaning Saints are now 10 points from safety with 19 games to play. “I think we have to be positive and think positive,” said Jurić after the first loss.

To have any chance of completing the great escape, staying positive has to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind for the next five months.

In the Dugout

Ivan Jurić

Ivan Jurić started his professional career at hometown club Hajduk Split in 1993 and played for the Croatian giants for four years, prior to earning a move across Europe to Sevilla, with whom he won promotion out of the Segunda Division during the 1998/99 campaign.

The midfielder spent time on loan at Albacete in 2000, before a brief spell back in Croatia with Sibenik preceded a move to Crotone in Italy. Juric had, arguably, the most successful personal period of his career at the Calabrian club, playing over 160 times and winning promotion to Serie B in 2003/04. He joined Genoa in 2006 and helped the club back to Serie A in his first season, with his performances eventually earning five senior caps for Croatia in 2009.

Juric started treading the path to a management career immediately after retiring in June 2010 and worked at Genoa, Inter Milan and Palermo, before he was handed his first head coach role by Mantova in June 2014. A year later, he re-joined Crotone and, in his second season back at the club, he masterminded promotion to Serie A for the first time ever.

Three separate spells at Genoa over the course of two-and-a-half years came next before two years at Hellas Verona and three years at Torino, the latter of whom he guided to three straight top-10 finishes in Serie A between 2021/22 and 2023/24.

After departing Torino by mutual consent in the summer, Jurić replaced Daniele De Rossi at Roma on 18 September, but he lasted less than two months in the job - having won four of his 12 games in charge - and was dismissed on 10 November, seven weeks before taking on the vacant role at Southampton - the first non-Italian club he has been associated with in almost a quarter-of-a-century.

The Gameplan

With Sky Sports journalist Dan Long

Sky Sports journalist Dan Long, who covers Southampton, explains how the Saints are likely to line up at St Mary's Stadium.

"With 39 goals conceded already, the focus now has to be on locking things up at the back if Saints are to have any chance of staying in the division," said Long.

"Russell Martin played a back-five towards the end of his reign, but the new boss has switched to a 3-4-1-2. Aaron Ramsdale will be in goal, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jan Bednarek and Nathan Wood the back three; Kyle Walker-Peters at left wing-back and either Yuki Sugawara or James Bree on the right.

"Flynn Downes, Joe Aribo, Lesley Ugochukwu and Mateus Fernandes have alternated in the centre since Jurić came in, while Tyler Dibling played behind Paul Onuachu and Adam Armstrong last time out against Crystal Palace.

"They have still only taken one point from the three games since his arrival, but do not expect sudden changes to their set-up just yet."

Read our full interview with Dan Long here.

Pre-match press conference

Frank provides injury update

Thomas Frank provided an update on the availability of a number of players for Brentford's visit to Southampton.

The Bees head coach said: "It's a minor groin injury [for Carvalho]. He's unlikely to be involved for Southampton.

"Everyone that was available for Arsenal is available for Southampton.

"The ones that came back against Arsenal - Mathias Jensen, Sepp van den Berg and Flekken - all came through well so that's good.

"In terms of the longer-term injuries, there's no real update."

Match officials

Attwell gets third Brentford game this term

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis and Natalie Aspinall

Fourth Official: John Busby

Video Assistant Referee: Craig Pawson

Stuart Attwell will be the man in the middle for a Brentford game for the third time this season, having also officiated the Bees' loss at Liverpool in August and the west London derby defeat to Fulham in November.

The 42-year-old, who most recently took charge of Sheffield United's Championship clash with West Brom at the end of 2024, will have the whistle for the 13th time in 2024/25.

In his 10 top-flight fixtures so far, he has handed out 37 yellow cards and two red cards.

Last meeting

Brentford 3 Southampton 1 (Premier League, 31 August 2024)

Bryan Mbeumo bagged a brace as Brentford beat Southampton 3-1 at Gtech Community Stadium.

Mbeumo netted either side of half-time, and Yoane Wissa bundled home another, as the Bees held a three-goal advantage heading into the final 20 minutes. Yukinari Sugawara scored a late consolation for the visitors.