Russell Martin is spending the week preparing his Southampton for the short trip to AFC Bournemouth on Monday night as the Saints continue their hunt for a first Premier League win of the season.
Whilst Southampton fans have always been reluctant to label this fixture a derby, this is a crucial game in terms of both clubs’ seasons as well as south coast bragging rights.
Russell Martin saw his Southampton side put in a much-improved performance against Ipswich Town but they were cruelly denied a first league win thanks to a deflected Sam Morsy strike on 95 minutes.
That did at least get a point on the board for Southampton and they now know a win would likely take them out of the relegation zone and a point behind Bournemouth, whose only league win has come against Everton.
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Southampton boast good record over Bournemouth
Despite the fact they have only won once in the league, Bournemouth’s only defeats have come against Chelsea and Liverpool.
The Cherries are a good side under Andoni Iraola and Southampton will head to the Vitality Stadium as underdogs, but history is on Martin’s side.
That is because Southampton have lost just three of their last 17 meetings with Bournemouth dating all the way back to 1987.
To add to that, the St Mary’s club have lost just once in their last eight away clashes against Bournemouth so Southampton will hope to improve on this impressive record on Monday night.
Southampton won last meeting away at Bournemouth
Southampton were incredibly poor as they finished bottom of the league in the 2022/23 season and were subsequently relegated to the Championship.
Despite this, they did manage to win at Bournemouth as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side beat the Cherries 1-0 away from home thanks to a strike from the since-departed Che Adams.
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Only four players who started that game are still at the club, with Gavin Bazunu, Kyle Walker-Peters, Joe Aribo and Adam Armstrong all in Hasenhuttl’s team.
Southampton did lose the return fixture 1-0 under their third manager of the season in Ruben Selles, with Marcus Tavernier scoring the only goal of the game at St Mary’s.