Southampton vs Brentford Prediction & Betting Tips - Carabao Cup

Prediction published on 13/09/2020, 09:17  by Daniel Ngulu in Carabao Cup Prediction

After laboring through the first round of the Carabao Cup, Brentford have an even tougher assignment in the second when they travel to Southampton this Wednesday. Brentford needed to win on penalties after playing to a 1-1 draw with Wycombe Wanderers in the first round. Meanwhile, Southampton joins in the second round and will be hoping to put behind them the losing start to the season as they went down 1-0 to Crystal Palace in their league opener. The Saints did not have much preseason activity and in their first match after a fine ending to last season, they were a bit off color though credit will go to the Palace keeper for big saves that denied Southampton. The hosts will be grateful to have Kyle Walker-Peters available for this League Cup match after having a red card downgraded to a booking in the loss to Palace. Having had a better run away than at home last season, Southampton will want to give all they can in this game to avoid another shaky start to a campaign after opening with back to back losses in the 2019/20 campaign. While Southampton are unbeaten in their last three home matches, they have only three wins, and four losses in their last nine games at their backyard. At home, Southampton have not been scoring a lot recently and perhaps the reason they didn’t do so well there; just three of their last 13 home matches ahead of the Brentford clash produced over 2.5 goals. The Saints however have a good home run in the League Cup; in their last 10, they have won eight and have five clean sheets in the 10 matches. They failed to score in just one of the 10 home matches in the League Cup.

Brentford have also not had the best of starts to the season. After their labored win in the first round of the League Cup, they lost 1-0 Birmingham City in their Championship opener. These added to their loss to Fulham in the promotion playoffs, signifies a team yet to come to terms with that big miss, but they have to reorganize very fast for the Wednesday clash. In their two preseason matches, they conceded four goals, though they will take credit for scoring three, but it also means they have no clean sheet in nine straight matches now. However, very little can be taken from Brentford’s attack; had they utilized their chances against Birmingham, it’d have ended as a really high scoring match. The team hit the post and the bar as they dominated most of the game but their hosts managed to hold on. They head to this game having scored in five of their last six matches, the two preseason games included, and though only Brian Mbeumo remains from their attacking trio last season, Brentford seems to have the same potency. Their situation is made worse by the fact they haven’t won any of their last four away matches in competitive action. In the League Cup, Brentford can’t afford to look at their defensive record with pride; they have one clean sheet in 27 matches in the competition and have particularly struggled in recent times. However, they have somehow ticked away from home; in their last four away games in the competition, they have three wins.