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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Kick-off: 1930, 04/01/2023
Stadium: St Mary’s Stadium
Southampton will be desperate to end a run of five straight Premier League defeats when taking on Nottingham Forest at St Mary’s Stadium.
The good news for Saints is that the Reds have struggled on the road so far, picking up just two points from eight away games, with only one goal scored and 22 conceded.
That record is hard to ignore and 98/100 for a home win is our first Southampton vs Nottingham Forest prediction.
Saints could not be faulted for effort when their poor run of league results continued with a 2-1 loss at Fulham.
James Ward-Prowse thought he had secured a first point under new boss Nathan Jones after scoring with a trademark free-kick to cancel out his earlier own goal.
However, Joao Palhinha’s late far-post header from a corner consigned Southampton to another defeat, despite Aleksandar Mitrovic missing an injury-time penalty.
Germany defender Armel Bella-Kotchap told the club website: “It’s difficult because we conceded two goals from set-pieces.
“We talked about them and we want to improve that, but we conceded two easy goals and that cannot happen in the situation we are in. We have to defend properly.
“We played well, we played front-footed and this was the game plan the coach told us before.
“We have to take the positives and we have to invest a lot more against Nottingham at home to come out of that situation…we will stick together as a team and do our best.”
Saints must try to rediscover their solid home form from early on in the season, when beating Chelsea here and drawing with Leeds, West Ham and Arsenal.
If they can hold their nerve, 13/5 for the hosts to prevail by any one-goal margin appeals from the Southampton vs Nottingham Forest odds.
Last Saints line-up: Bazunu, Lyanco, Salisu, Kotchap, Walker-Peters, Maitland-Niles, Ward-Prowse, Elyounoussi, Aribo, Adams, Edozie.
Samuel Edozie faces a late fitness test after he suffered cramp against Fulham. Theo Walcott, Juan Larios, Alex McCarthy and Valentino Livramento all remain sidelined.
Forest showed the benefit of having home advantage when battling back from behind to gain a deserved 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
Raheem Sterling gave the Blues a half-time lead but the Reds were the better team after the break and levelled through Serge Aurier on 63 minutes.
Forest also hit the woodwork through Morgan Gibbs-White and Brennan Johnson spurned two decent opportunities.
“If any team deserved to win, it was certainly us,” said head coach Steve Cooper. “If you look at the chances in the game, they were all ours.
“We were unlucky with the goal. It hit the bar and fell to Raheem a few yards out – it could have gone anywhere. That was unlucky because I never thought we were going to concede.
“Second half, we didn’t change but we were better timed with our press and we could get up the pitch. We were the superior team – no-one can take that away from us.
“Mixed feelings on not winning, but we have to be realistic on who we were playing and the team they are and take positives from the good things we did.”
Forest have picked up 12 of their 14 points at the City Ground and that strong home form could give them a chance of surviving.
However, it has been a different story on their travels, with 460 minutes of action passing by since they last scored away at Everton.
Saints have netted 21 times in all competitions this term and Che Adams has bagged eight of those goals, so 7/2 for him to break the deadlock completes our Southampton vs Nottingham Forest betting tips.
Last Forest line-up: Henderson, Worrall, Aurier, Boly, Lodi, Mangala, Yates, Freuler, Awoniyi, Gibbs-White, Johnson.
Forest have new signing Gustavo Scarpa available following the opening of the transfer window but Jesse Lingard has been ruled out for four weeks with a hamstring injury. Cheikhou Kouyate, Moussa Niakhate (both hamstring) and Omar Richards (leg) remain out.
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