TWO teams who will be pleased with their efforts this season conclude their respective campaigns at St Mary's on Sunday as Southampton play host Sheffield United.
The Saints, after suffering a record-breaking 9-0 loss at home to Leicester earlier in the campaign, have shown admirable powers of recovery this season under the stewardship of Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Southampton, since the restart, have taken 15 points from a possible 27 – four of which were picked up against the Manchester giants – and last time out the Saints put south coast rivals Bournemouth to the sword with a 2-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium.
However, Southampton have found home comfort hard to come by this season so they will be keen to sign off with a St Mary's success but to do so they will have to overcome well-schooled Sheffield United side.
Chris Wilder's men have exceeded expectations this season but the Blades bid for continental football has crumbled following back-to-back defeats against Leicester and Everton.
Consequently, the Steel City side cannot move above their current position of eighth-place in the Premier League standings, however, a guaranteed top-10 finish represents a tremendous return to the top-flight for Wilder and Co.
Outright Betting
Southampton are in the midst of a six-match unbeaten run and the bookies expect that sequence to be extended on Sunday with a home win priced up at 13/10 with Betfred while a share of the spoils at St Mary's on Sunday pays 5/2 with SportingBet.
Sheffield United have won only one of their last nine Premier League away matches and the Blades are as big as 23/10 with Bet 365 to bring the curtain down on their brilliant season by claiming three points.
Betting Angles
I spoke about this fixture on this week's edition of the Gambla Betting Podcast with the view to backing Southampton striker Danny Ings to get on the scoresheet at 21/20 with Bet 365.
Ings has been in blistering form either side of the enforced break and his impressive displays this season have underlined the Southampton strikers case for a possible England call-up.
The former Liverpool forward has found the back of the net in five of his eight run-outs since the resumption and Ings looks nicely priced at odds-against of 21/20 (Bet 365) to breach a Sheffield United backline that has conceded two or more goals in three of their last four top-flight road trips.
Hasenhuttl's hitman has notched an eye-catching 21 league goals this season and that goal-return will see Ings go into the final fixture of the season involved in a fiercely competitive battle for the Premier League Golden Boot.
Ings will attract plenty of attention to score first at 7/2 with Bet 365, however, Southampton have been shaky at the back this season and with that in mind it may be more shrewd to opt for the Saints striker to strike anytime at 21/20 with Bet 365.
Sheffield United will be hard-tasked when trying to tame Ings and Co and that could see value lie with the 11/10 on offer with Bet 365 for the Blades to collect two or more cards on the south coast.
The South Yorkshire outfit are averaging 1.83 cards per-game on their travels and I'm happy to have a play on two or more Blades cards on Sunday given the confidence and fluency that Southampton are playing with.
What's more, Peter Bankes is one of the more card-happy referees in England – averaging four cards across the 10 top-flight tussles that he has taken charge of this term – and that adds to the appeal of backing two or more Blades bookings in what should be an entertaining end of season affair at St Mary's.
This English Premier League match between Southampton and Sheffield United will be played on Jul 26, 2020 and kick off at 16:00. Check below for our tipsters best Southampton vs Sheffield United prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
