“That is what I’m going with” – Chris Sutton shares his prediction for Southampton v Leicester

Southampton host Leicester City at St. Mary’s on Saturday afternoon, as the home side look for their first victory of the new Premier League season, with BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton predicting that the Saints won’t attain that elusive first three points, and that the club’s fans ‘will eventually start to turn against’ manager Russell Martin.

The Saints have endured a miserable start to the new campaign, suffering six defeats from their opening seven league games, and are spared the embarrassment of being rock bottom by a Wolves side with an inferior goal difference. Meanwhile, fellow newly promoted outfit Leicester have fared marginally better than their counterparts, securing their first win of the season at home to Bournemouth prior to the international break.

In what is essentially shaping up as an early season relegation ‘six-pointer’, Martin will be desperate for his team to win to relieve the pressure on himself, while Steve Cooper will be eager to put daylight between his men and the Saints.

Sutton: Fans Will Start Turning Against Martin

The pundit has predicted a draw

With neither side fancied to retain their Premier League status for next season, clashes with other teams expected to be towards the bottom of the table come May are of paramount importance. Southampton have brutally been given a ‘1,000,000%’ chance of being relegated in the media, while the Foxes are also expected to be lingering in and around the drop zone for much of the season.

With Martin reportedly ‘one game from sack’ as the Saints have already begun the hunt for a new head coach, the encounter with the East Midlanders on Saturday certainly has a lot riding on it. Writing in his Premier League predictions this weekend for BBC Sport, former Blackburn striker Sutton revealed that he doesn’t believe the south coast will attain the points they need and that the tide could start turning against Martin:

“A win would be massive for both teams, given they are both in the bottom six, but especially for Southampton boss Russell Martin.

So much has been made of his brand of football that, despite him doing so well to get them promoted, their fans will eventually start to turn against him unless he gets some points on the board – at the moment they only have one.

Leicester, meanwhile, did get their first victory of the campaign last time out. It was a good win over Bournemouth, but I wonder if that will count for as much because all their players jetted off afterwards. The Foxes probably did not want the international break.

Leicester won 9-0 here in October 2019, but this time it is going to be a lot tighter. A draw is not much good to Foxes manager Steve Cooper either, but that is what I am going with.”

Sutton’s prediction: 1-1