Southampton v Norwich: Canaries can fly away with a point

Dan Fitch thinks Southampton are being overrated after their weekend exploits and is backing Norwich's revival to continue.

Southampton 1.80 v Norwich 4.60; The Draw 4.30
Wednesday 4 December, 19:30
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Hasenhuttl survives battle of under pressure managers

The margins between success and failure can be razor thin in football. For much of Southampton's home game against bottom of the table Watford they were losing, but two late goals saw them snatch victory on Saturday.

In response to their loss, Watford sacked their manager Quique Sanchez Flores. Had his side held out for victory, it's likely that he would still be in a job and the Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl would find himself under some pressure.

Instead Hasenhuttl is looking for Southampton to extend their unbeaten record to three matches, after their away draw at Arsenal and win against Watford. A victory could see the Saints climb out of the relegation zone. One hopes that Hasenhuttl can survive and prosper for he is clearly a good manager, with Southampton's problems down to years of poor decisions from those running the club.

One area of Southampton's staff that are definitely working well are their physio team. Stuart Armstrong is the only player currently unavailable to Hasenhuttl.

Return of defender lifts Norwich

Like their opponents, Norwich are in the relegation zone but looking upwards having not lost either of their last two games.

The Canaries followed a 2-0 win at Everton with a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in which they were twice ahead. A win for Norwich on Wednesday would not result in them climbing out of the relegation zone, but would see them put pressure on those hovering just outside the bottom three.

It's no coincidence that Norwich's form has improved since their key defender Christoph Zimmermann returned to the side against Everton. Norwich have had to deal with lots of injuries this season, but no one has been missed more than the German central defender who had only played one game in the Premier League prior to the match with Everton.

Zimmermann may be back, but Norwich still have a number of players on the sidelines. Grant Hanley, Timm Klose, Alexander Tettey and Josip Drmic will all miss the trip to Southampton.

Saints short price after lone win

Southampton are the 1.80 favourites, with the draw at 4.30 and Norwich at 4.60.

Though Southampton have home advantage, it seems a very short price for them based on pretty flimsy evidence. Watford came close to inflicting a defeat at the weekend and Norwich will be full of confidence following their last two games.

The victory against Watford was Southampton's first home win of the season. The draw looks a big price at 4.30, while Norwich are 2.20 to avoid defeat in the Double Chance market.

Value lies with low scoring game

Looking at the respective defensive records you might think that there should be goals in this one. Southampton have conceded in each of their last nine games. Norwich have only kept two clean sheets in 15 matches this season.

Yet when you consider that only two teams have scored less home goals than Southampton and no side has scored less on the road than Norwich, there is a strong counter-argument. Under 2.5 goals could provide value at 2.44. Another option is the 0-0 half-time score at 3.55, which has landed in each of Norwich's last three away games.