Michael Owen predicts Leeds United clash v Southampton in Premier League
Michael Owen predicts Leeds United and Southampton to draw when they meet at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are yet to win in the Premier League this season while Leeds ensured their winless streak didn’t go into their seventh game before the international break by beating Watford.
Both Leeds and Southampton have drawn a lot of matches between them this season and ex-Liverpool and Manchester United striker Owen expects a stalemate on the south coast this weekend.
Writing on the BetVictor website, Owen said: “Southampton are still winless in the league and are desperate for some optimism. They’ve only scored once in their last four matches, and they badly need to address that. Adam Armstrong is a good finisher but if they can’t get him decent service, this will be a long season.
“Leeds haven’t hit top form this season, so to get their first win against Watford in their last was huge. They need to start scoring more though, they’ve only scored seven in the league so far. By this point last season, they had scored 13.
“I don’t think this will be a thriller, these two have had a combined seven draws in the league so far this season. I can see another one here and I’m predicting 1-1.”
Good result?
Would a draw be acceptable for Leeds United fans?
Marcelo Bielsa has plenty of selection issues ahead of the trip to St Mary’s with Raphinha unlikely to be available due to playing for Brazil in the early hours of Friday morning.
Kalvin Phillips is also a doubt while Patrick Bamford, Robin Koch and Luke Ayling are all ruled out.
Southampton also have issues of their own with James Ward-Prowse suspended and Che Adams and Jack Stephens injured.
Both teams have key players missing so it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.
But if Leeds are without both Phillips and the in-form Raphinha, there are bound to be massive problems.
Of course, we have some depth on the wings but no one is capable of stepping into that defensive midfield role and playing anywhere near at the level of Phillips.
That’s going to be the biggest issue for Leeds.
In other Leeds United news, Jeff Stelling has also predicted the game.