Southampton vs Everton. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance31,132.
Sunday 27 November 2016 15:51, UK
Everton boss Ronald Koeman returns to his former club Southampton for the first time when the two clubs face off on Super Sunday.
Koeman managed the Saints for two years, taking the club to the Europa League and achieving a 48 per cent win percentage during his tenure.
This season, the Dutch coach has guided Everton to seventh in the Premier League table. However, his side have won just one of their last seven matches and some fans voiced their discontent after the 1-1 draw with Swansea last weekend.
After suffering a disappointing 1-0 loss to Sparta Prague in the Europa League, Southampton must quickly turn their attention to the league.
Claude Puel's team sit 11th in the Premier League table and have scored 12 goals this season, meaning only four teams have scored less goals than the Saints.
Team news
Dusan Tadic is not expected to be available for Southampton as the Serbian midfielder continues his recovery from a broken nose.
Defender Jose Fonte will be assessed on a foot problem, with Puel hopeful the captain will be fit having not travelled for to Prague in the week.
Forward Austin, full-back Ryan Bertrand, midfielders Oriol Romeu and Steven Davis should all be recalled, but Matt Targett continues his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury.
Everton have no new injury problems for their Premier League trip to Southampton on Sunday.
Koeman also has midfielder Gareth Barry back from suspension and could face a few selection dilemmas.
Only long-term absentees Muhamed Besic (knee) and Matthew Pennington (hamstring) are on the sidelines.
Opta stats
Everton won 3-0 on their last league visit to St. Mary's; their biggest away win over Southampton since October 1987 (4-0).
Romelu Lukaku has scored three and assisted one in four Premier League appearances at St. Mary's, including a brace for the Everton in this exact fixture last season.
Lukaku has scored in just four of his last 17 appearances away from Goodison Park in the Premier League, however.
Southampton have failed to score against Everton on 13 occasions in the Premier League; only against Arsenal, Chelsea and Leeds (14) have they drawn a blank versus an opponent more often.
After winning 13/15 possible points in their first five Premier League games of the season, Everton have won just six of a possible 21 points in their seven matches since.
Saints have lost just one of their last 11 Premier League matches at home (W6 D4 L1).
However, Southampton have now failed to score in their last two Premier League games at St Mary's - they haven't gone three league games without scoring there since February 2015.
Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye has made a league-high 53 tackles in the top flight this season so far.
No player has made more open-play crosses than Yannick Bolasie (74) this season in the Premier League.
Only Chelsea (26) have allowed their opponents fewer shots on target in the Premier League this season than Southampton (30).
Merson's prediction
This will be a good game. It's Koeman going back to his old ground. Everton had a bad result against Swansea and Southampton were good against Liverpool.
If both teams are fully fit, I'm going for Southampton to win this one.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (Sky Bet odds 15/2)
Betting
Southampton are Sky Bet's 11/10 favourites as they welcome former manager Koeman to St Mary's.
The Toffees, hammered 5-0 by Chelsea in their last away game, are 13/5 to head back north with all three points while the draw can be backed at 23/10.
Saints legend Matt Le Tissier reckons home striker Charlie Austin can open the scoring and that's a 9/2 chance.
Check out all the Sky Sports pundits' predictions and bet on the action right here.
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