Southampton will aim to continue their push for the play-offs when they welcome managerless Watford to St Mary’s on Saturday (12:31 GMT).
Saints impressed in a 2-0 win at Stoke last Saturday to make it seven points from three games, the first of which was a 1-0 victory against Sheffield United in their most recent home game.
They sit 14th, seven points adrift of the play-off places with 16 games remaining, and four behind Watford, who lie eighth, despite being winless in six games in all competitions.
Javi Gracia left Vicarage Road in the wake of Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Swansea but the Hornets earned a creditable goalless draw at Hull City on Tuesday to extend their unbeaten run on the road to five matches.
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Southampton have lost just one of their past 10 league games against Watford (W4 D5), going down 2-1 at home in March 2022.
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Watford have lost two of their past three away league games against Southampton (W1), as many as they had in their previous eight visits to St Mary’s (W4 D2).
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Southampton have lost just one of their eight home league games under Tonda Eckert (W5 D2), going down 2-1 against Hull City last month.
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Watford are winless in their past five league games (D3 L2), scoring just two goals in that run. They had won their previous four in the Championship.
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Southampton have scored 43 goals from an xG of 52 in the Championship this season, with only Blackburn (27 goals, 37.5 xG) underperforming their expected goals more than the Saints (-9).
