Southampton Look to Rebound While Birmingham Chase Rare Away Win

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·4 December 2025

Southampton Look to Rebound While Birmingham Chase Rare Away Win

After their first loss under interim boss Tonda Eckert, this next match could define Southampton’s season. Will they bounce back, or was their spark of form merely a result of a new manager bounce?

Their opponents, Birmingham, haven’t won an away fixture since October — a record that the Blues will be hoping to amend at St Mary’s this weekend.

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Current Form

Southampton

Millwall (A) — 3-2 Loss
Leicester (H) — 3-0 Win
Charlton (A) — 5-1 Win
Sheffield Wednesday (H) — 3-1 Win
QPR (A) — 2-1 Win
Total Points: 12/15

The Saints have scored 15 goals in their past five games, winning four and losing just one, recently to Millwall. Under Eckert, they’ve scored two or more goals per game, boasting a significant improvement in their goalscoring metrics. Their last home outing was a dominating display against a fellow-relegated Leicester, and the South Coast outfit will be aiming to make it three wins from three on home soil — something that hasn’t been done since April 2024 under Russell Martin in the Championship.

Birmingham

Watford (H) — 2-1 Win
West Brom (A) — 1-1 Draw
Norwich (H) — 4-1 Win
Middlesbrough (A) — 2-1 Loss
Millwall (H) — 4-0 Win
Total Points: 10/15

Birmingham sit six places above Southampton, with a comfortable four-point cushion. Their home form has been electric: they have scored 14 in the past four and won each of them. A stark contrast has been their away record, though, where they rank 21st in the division. Chris Davies’ men gained a pivotal point at the Hawthorns last weekend, which will ignite some desire to turn around their dreadful away form.

Injuries & Suspensions

Brazilian Leo Scienza’s skilful presence was missed against Millwall, and the 27-year-old will be targeting a return this weekend from illness. Eckert previously mentioned that Shea Charles could be back soon, hoping to “slowly integrate him into team training after the Millwall game.”

Fullback Tomoki Iwata is set to return to the squad after serving his yellow-card suspension against Watford. Ethan Laird, however, is out for far longer, Davies said, “It’s February, I think, where he’s due to be back at that point of joining the team again.”

Southampton

Ross Stewart — Hamstring injury
Elias Jelert — Quadricep injury
Samuel Edozie — Ankle injury
Mads Roerslev — Knee injury
Shea Charles — Hamstring injury

Birmingham

Ethan Laird — Hamstring injury
Lee Buchanan — Knee injury
Scott Wright — Knee injury
Willum Willumsson — Muscle injury

Manager Quotes

A disappointing loss for the Saints last week, especially after getting back into the contest at 2-2, but Eckert acknowledged that his side needed to accept and hold out for the point.

“It’s a compliment to the boys, I think it’s not easy when you go down 2-1 to come back in the game in the way that we did, and I think at that point we just needed to be happy to take a point and go home with one point more.”

The German was pleased that the Saints would now have had a complete week on the training pitch, without a mid-week game. It gives him time to nail the game plan, he added, “Very happy. We’ll be well-prepared to go again next Saturday against Birmingham.”

Chris Davies has been delighted with the recent improvement to his side’s form, backing them to go on further, he said:

“If you look at the underlying numbers, we’ve improved at almost everything in the last six, seven, eight games. Now I have a lot more belief, looking at us, that we can be a real contender.” “I think early season, we were finding our feet. Some players were finding their feet, their own confidence in their levels; some of them had never played in the Championship. But I look at some of those same players now, I see a belief in them.”

Predicted Lineups

Southampton (3-4-2-1): Bazunu; Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Stephens; Fellows, Jander, Downes, Manning; Azaz, Scienza; Armstrong

Birmingham (4-2-3-1): Beadle; Iwata, Klarer, Neumann, Cochrane; Doyle, Paik; Roberts, Stansfield, Gray; Ducksch

What to Expect

Both sides will be aiming to mount a playoff push during the Christmas period, and the upcoming fixture could be the perfect platform to build on as they head into the depths of December.

Birmingham will aim to dictate play on the ball through possession play. A stark contrast to Millwall, who dictated play through their press and out-of-possession structure. This could suit Eckert’s men, though.

Until the game opened up in the second half, the Saints struggled to break down Millwall. When they were able to play on the transition, that’s where they looked most dangerous. With pace from Tom Fellows out wide and runs in-behind from Adam Armstrong, Eckert will need to find a game plan that utilises these counterattacking strengths.

Southampton have let in 25 goals so far, with an average of 1.39 goals conceded per game, emphasising their difficulties in keeping a clean sheet. Despite being at home, the Saints may not be on the front foot this Saturday. While there are guaranteed to be periods of the game where they are, the Saints could look to soak in the pressure from Birmingham and focus on transitional plays to get the most out of their forwards.

Predicted Scoreline

Since 2011, four games have occurred between these two teams. The Saints have been unbeaten with three wins and a draw.

An open game is expected at St Mary’s, but whoever controls that chaos will come out on top. Both sides have demonstrated their ability to do this, with the Saints beating Charlton 5-1 and Birmingham defeating Millwall 4-0.