New Southampton boss Ivan Juric will continue to seek a first win since taking over when they welcome Brentford to St Mary's in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Saints are cut adrift at the bottom of the table, but no team in the division has a worse away record than the Bees so far this season.
Match preview
© Imago
Two games in charge have ended in two defeats for the recently-appointed Juric at the Southampton helm, leaving the club in dire straits as we hit the midway point.
After a close 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham United, Southampton again showed promise away to Crystal Palace last week, taking the lead through Tyler Dibling, but still falling to a 2-1 loss.
That means the Saints have still only picked up one win and six points from their opening 19 games of the season, and could equal Sunderland's record for the worst ever start after 20 matches with another defeat here.
Not even the infamous Derby County team of 2007-08, which ended up finishing with a record-low 11 points, had so few points at this stage of a campaign, with the writing seemingly on the wall already.
Southampton are rock bottom, eight points adrift of Leicester City in 19th, and 10 points from safety with half of the season still to play, so the greatest recovery in Premier League history will be required for them to survive from here.
With only 12 goals scored in the league so far - a division low - Southampton have still conceded over two goals-per-game this season, despite tightening up defensively since the sacking of Russell Martin.
They have let in just three goals in the three goals since Martin's departure, but they will now face a side that has proven capable of finding the net with regularity this season in Brentford.
Not only that, Brentford have won the last four head-to-heads, scoring 11 goals in the process, and they have the opportunity to win successive away games at Southampton for the first time ever here.
© IconSport
However, their away form is up there with some of the worst seen in the Premier League in recent times, suffering 17 defeats in their last 23 on the road.
That includes failing to win at all away from home so far this season, with Thomas Frank's men taking just two points from a possible 27.
Worryingly, home form has also begun deserting them too, with back-to-back defeats at the Gtech coming immediately after a run of seven games which saw them win 19 points.
The only Premier League fixture on New Year's Day saw the Bees host Arsenal, and despite taking the lead through Bryan Mbeumo, Brentford's defensive weaknesses showed, with the title contenders scoring three unanswered goals to cruise to victory.
A 0-0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion to close out 2024 is the only game Brentford have not lost in their last five, and they remain down in 12th, despite being among the league's highest scorers.
The gap to the top six is still only seven points though, so certainly not insurmountable, but with Manchester City and Liverpool to come in their next two, Frank will really want to see his side pick up a win here.
Team News
© Imago
Southampton will be without midfielder Mateus Fernandes after his booking in the defeat at Palace triggered a one-match suspension, so Juric will hope to have Flynn Downes back from a dead leg ahead of this one.
Will Smallbone should also return soon in midfield, but a knock is likely to keep Jack Stephens sidelined for a couple of weeks.
After being ignored by Martin during the first few months of the season, Armel Bella-Kotchap featured in the matchday squad for the first time in the league this season last week, and could be utilised with Juric also opting to play three centre-backs.
Brentford's injury list is among the longest in the Premier League, and many of those absentees come in defence, where Frank is down to the barebones.
Ethan Pinnock, Kristoffer Ajer and Ben Mee are all currently out, so Sepp van den Berg's return on New Year's Day was well timed, even if his minutes were managed.
Mark Flekken was also able to make a speedy recovery in goal after being forced off early on in the draw with Brighton, while Mathias Jensen got his first minutes in over a month against Arsenal.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Wood; Bree, Ugochukwu, Downes, Walker-Peters; Dibling, Onuachu, Armstrong
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter; Janelt, Norgaard, Jensen; Mbeumo, Wissa, Damsgaard
We say: Southampton 0-0 Brentford
Juric has put his marker down quickly and instantly made Southampton tougher to score against, compared to the shots that would frequently rain down on their goal under Martin.
Brentford have the firepower, but they have looked slightly blunt in recent weeks, taking just one point from their previous five games, and the goals have dried up for some of their key attacking players.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
