Toffee have already passed three stages of the second most prestigious tournament in England. First, the team from Liverpool beat Rotherham (2:1), then defeated Sheffield Wednesday (3:0) and then in a super-productive and very interesting match broke the resistance of Tottenham (5:4) in extra time. It seems that this game is still in everyone’s memory. Everton may well fight for the title, but now their rivals are the formidable Manchester City and charges of Carlo Ancelotti will definitely not be the favorites of the confrontation. As for the national championship, the Blues are still fighting for a place in the Champions League. Liverpool have 46 points and are five points behind the fourth Chelsea. At the same time, the “butterscotch” has a game in reserve, so it is still possible. True, in the last two Premier League games, Everton were defeated, losing to Chelsea (0:2) and Burnley (1:2). These results significantly reduced team’s chances of solving the main problem, but the main thing is to recover on time. Jordan Pickford, Jean-Philippe Gbamen, Fabian Delph, Abdoulaye Doukouret and James Rodriguez continue to be in the Everton infirmary. All of them will not help Ancelotti’s team in this game.
Southampton’s staffing situation is not much better. Danny Ings, Oriol Romeu, Theo Walcott, Michael Obafemi, Takumi Minamino and William Smallbone will definitely not play for various reasons in the next fight. This season is not easy for the Saints. Southampton started quite powerfully and were among the leaders of the championship, but the abundance of injuries knocked down the team, as a result of which it rapidly rolled down. In the Premier League, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men have lost ten of their last 12 matches, having achieved just one victory over outsider Sheffield United (2:0). As a result of such a performance the saints have already slipped to 14th place in the Premier League standings. The only outlet that pleases Soton fans this year is the FA Cup, where in recent years the team has not played very well. In the previous two seasons, Southampton did not advance further than the 1/16 finals, but a year earlier reached the semifinals, where they gave way to Chelsea (0:2). In the current draw Ralph Hasenhuttl’s charges have already left Arsenal (1:0) and Wolverhampton (2:0) behind and started with a victory over an opponent from the lower division, Shrewsbury Town (2:0). More today soccer predictions can be obtained from the link provided.