Burnley vs. Southampton Preview: We're backing the Clarets to edge this one

Live on Sky Sports, Burnley host Southampton in the Premier League at Turf Moor, this Thursday at 7.45pm.

The Clarets sit 18th in the Premier League table, four points adrift from safety, while the Saints sit 12th in the league table with 39 points. The hosts put in a spirited performance away at West Ham at the weekend in a 1-1 draw but missed the chance to clinch all three points as Maxwell Cornet missed a 1st half penalty. They will still take confidence from the fact that they have only lost to Southampton once in their last eight meetings at Turf Moor. Five of their final seven games are against bottom half opposition which should give them a hope of beating relegation and Burnley will be hoping to win back to back Premier League home games for the first time this season after beating Lampard’s Everton last week. As for the visitors, they came back from a 6-0 hammering against Chelsea and put in a solid performance to get the win over an Arsenal side chasing the Champions League spots. This was their first win in Seven games in all competitions but they will hoping to push on and get a top half finish.

A hugely significant game in the relegation battle awaits us and I have you covered with two of my best betting angles included in the preview below:

Team News:

Gudmundsson, Erik Pieters, Ben Mee & Ashley Westwood are out for Burnley.

Alex Mcarthy is out for Southampton, no other injuries/suspensions.

Burnley possible starting lineup:

Pope; Roberts, Collins, Tarkowski, Taylor; McNeil, Cork, Brownhill, Cornet; Rodriguez, Weghorst

Southampton possible starting lineup:

Forster; Livramento, Bednarek, Salisu, Walker-Peters; S. Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Elyounoussi; Adams, Broja

You would have to be brave to back a Burnley side who have won just four games all season, but that’s exactly what we’re going to do here. They put in a battling performance in the 1-1 draw away at West Ham and will be pushed hard under the lights by their supporters at Turf Moor. This is a game they can not afford to lose with the gap between them and Everton now up to four points. The visitors don’t really have much to play for in the league anymore and have only won once in their last six premier league games. Burnley have a dominant record over Southampton at Turf Moor in recent seasons (1 loss in 8) and I think the motivation of fighting against relegation will get them over the line here. Take Burnley 0.0 asian handicap @ 19/20 with a 1pt stake as our 1st bet for this Thursday night clash. If the game ends in a draw, our stake will be refunded.

Maxwell Cornet has had 2+ shots in their last 5 consecutive Premier League games and is Burnley’s top scorer with seven goals. He is averaging the most shots per game for Burnley (1.8) and also had two shots against Southampton in the reverse leg. Burnley are averaging 11.5 shots per game at home in the Premier League and considering this is a must win game for them, I am expecting them to have plenty of efforts on goal. They should comfortably clear the “Over 8.5 shots” line. Combining these two selections gives us a solid betbuilder and I am backing that with a 1pt stake as our 2nd bet for this game.