Southampton v Wolves preview: Saints look to stay in touch at bottom
The Welshman came out fighting after last week’s thumping 3-0 defeat to Brentford, which left his side bottom of the division, by insisting “there weren't many better than me around Europe” when he was appointed as Ralph Hasenhüttl’s replacement in November.
Not for the first time, the Saints were booed off by away fans who made the trip to Brentford Community Stadium, as Jones suffered a sixth defeat from seven (W1) league games in charge.
Worryingly, Southampton failed to score the first goal in any of those outings, while their total of 15 points from 21 matches is their lowest at this stage of any season since 2004/05, when they were relegated to the Championship.
The visit of Wolves will do little to lift the mood on the South Coast either, given the Midlands outfit have won each of the last four H2H meetings between the sides, as well as winning on their last three visits to St Mary’s.
The Wanderers should also be brimming with confidence at present after dishing out a 3-0 mauling to Liverpool last weekend, although their away form still needs improvement after collecting only six points on their travels this season.
That victory left Julen Lopetegui’s side two points clear of the relegation zone, but only five above Southampton, so they know they will be dragged right back into trouble with a defeat in this game.
Lopetegui has already warned his team that they have to adopt “a big mentality” in order to beat the drop, something he seems to have been pretty successful in instilling since arriving at Molineux in November as they have won three of his six league games in charge (D1, L2).
Players to watch: Saints striker Ché Adams has been on the winning side in 15 of his 22 PL goalscoring appearances (D3, L4), including two this season (L1). He will be hoping to outscore Daniel Podence, who has netted first or last in ten of his 14 goalscoring appearances for Wolves, including the winning strike against Southampton in September.
Hot stat: Southampton have the worst PL home record this season, picking up just six of an available 30 points (W1, D3, L7).
