Premier League: Southampton v Swansea match preview

A look ahead to this weekend's Premier League fixture at St Mary’s

Swansea City's Spanish midfielder Pablo Hernandez (GETTY IMAGES)

Swansea take on Southampton at St Mary's on Saturday with pressure mounting on the south coast club and their besieged manager Nigel Adkins.

Back-to-back promotions may not spare the perennially optimistic Adkins who is said to have been given support by chairman Nicola Cortese at a boardroom meeting on Tuesday, for the short-term at least.

The Saints are bottom of the Premier League on four points, but more importantly the bridge to safety has extended to five points after last Monday's 2-0 defeat at West Brom.

But Michael Laudrup's travelling Swansea will likely be in a less than forgiving mood and full of confidence following impressive displays against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in their last three outings.

The Welsh club were unlucky 1-0 losers away to City in the league but knocked Liverpool out of the League Cup with a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win and held Champions League holders Chelsea at home last Saturday.

KICK-OFF: Saturday, 3pm

PAST THREE MEETINGS…

Southampton 2 (Sagaowski 2) Swansea 2 (Gomez, Pintado), Championship, January 2009

Swansea 3 (Pratley, Gomez, Butler) Southampton 0, Championship, October 2008

Southampton 2 (Baird, Armstrong) Swansea 1, Division One, March 1983

STATS...

None of the last 12 meetings between Southampton and Swansea have ended as an away win (three draws).

Southampton have gone 19 games in the top-flight without a clean sheet, conceding 50 goals in this run.

Swansea have scored just one Premier League goal on the road since the opening day.

CLASSIC MATCH...

The last time Southampton and Swansea met each other at St Mary's was the 31st January 2009. A Marek Saganowski double earned The Saints a point after Jordi Gomez and Gorka Pintado has netted for the Swans.

ODDS...

Southampton to win: 2.37

Swansea to win: 2.87

Draw: 3.40

TV: Highlights on BBC1 at 10.50pm