Southampton vs Leeds preview: Raphinha in race against time

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Southampton vs Leeds in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 3pm.

Team news

Southampton striker Che Adams will miss Saturday’s Premier League home match against Leeds after picking up a muscle injury on international duty with Scotland.

Jack Stephens remains sidelined with a knee injury, while James Ward-Prowse will miss out through suspension, which should see Ibrahima Diallo feature in midfield.

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has not ruled Raphinha out of Saturday’s Premier League game despite his involvement with Brazil.

Raphinha is reportedly poised to make his first start for Brazil in the early hours of Friday morning against Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier.

Patrick Bamford will miss out after failing to recover from an ankle injury while midfielder Kalvin Phillips is likely to return following a calf strain.

Bielsa also revealed Germany defender Robin Koch – sidelined since the opening-day defeat at Manchester United – is currently in America to undergo a minor procedure to resolve a troublesome pelvic problem.

Luke Ayling continues to recover from a small knee operation, but Jack Harrison, Stuart Dallas, Adam Forshaw and Crysencio Summerville are all in contention.

How to follow

Follow Southampton vs Leeds in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel from 5.15pm from Saturday.

Last time out…

Opta stats

Having won five of their six league meetings with Leeds between 2006 and 2012 (L1), Southampton lost both of their games against the Whites in the Premier League last season.Against no team have Leeds won more Premier League games than they have against Southampton (14), with the Whites winning home and away against Saints last term.31 of Leeds’ 35 Premier League goals against Southampton have been scored in the second half of games, including each of the last 13 in a row. Of all teams to have scored 20+ goals against an opponent in the competition, Leeds against Southampton is the highest ratio scored after half-time (89%).Southampton remain winless in the Premier League this season (D4 L3) – the only campaign in their history in which they failed to win any of their opening eight league games was 1998-99, when they avoided relegation from the Premier League on the final day of the season.Leeds’ last two away league games have finished level (1-1 vs both Burnley and Newcastle), as many draws as they’d had in their previous 52 top-flight away games combined beforehand. They last drew more consecutively on the road in the Premier League in their first six such games in 1998-99.Leeds are averaging just one goal-per-game in the Premier League this season (7 goals, 7 games), having averaged 1.6 per game in the competition last term. Indeed, last season they reached seven goals scored after just two Premier League matches.Leeds have faced more shots (117) and more shots on target (43) than any other side in the Premier League this season, while they also have the third-highest xG against total in the competition (12.4).Leeds have had the fifth-most shots (105) in the Premier League this season, but have the sixth-lowest expected goals total (7.7). Their xG-per-shot of just 0.07 is the lowest in the competition this term.Following his red card against Chelsea last time out, this will be the first Premier League game Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse has not appeared in since 27th December 2018, a 2-1 home defeat to West Ham. The midfielder had appeared in 102 consecutive Premier League games for the Saints before this.Raphinha has had more shots (24), created more chances (14), attempted more dribbles (37) and made more off-the-ball runs (223) than any other Leeds player in the Premier League this season.