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On Wednesday evening, Southampton will host Crystal Palace at St Mary’s Stadium.
The Saints will be confident heading into this encounter, having gone unbeaten for the last three Premier League games – a run that includes securing a hard-fought draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, were unfortunate to fall to a 4-3 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield last time out in the league, and Roy Hodgson will be keen to see his side bounce back from the loss.
The battlers
The south coast club’s key man in terms of offering a goal threat is Liverpool-loanee Danny Ings. The 26-year-old has registered eight goals in 17 appearances for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side so far this season, as per Transfermarkt’s statistics.
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Palace centre-back, and Ings’ former Liverpool teammate, Mamadou Sakho will likely be the man tasked with stopping the once-capped England international.
Who will prevail?
Like Ings, Sakho has enjoyed an impressive campaign so far. According to WhoScored’s stats, the 29-cap France international has averaged 1.1 tackles, 1.6 interceptions and 4.7 clearances per Premier League match so far this season.
What’s more, the 28-year-old has only been dribbled past 0.3 times per game.
As per WhoScored’s records, Ings has maintained an average of completing 0.8 dribbles per Premier League game this season, and has generally been dispossessed only 0.9 times per match.
Although Sakho ought to know Ings’ game well from their shared time at Anfield, the stats suggest that the striker is coming into this clash with a slight edge over his opponent. Southampton fans will be hoping that advantage pays dividends on Wednesday night.