Southampton vs Millwall Prediction: Saints to bounce back against struggling Lions

Southampton slipped to a second Championship defeat in three matches as they were beaten 2-1 by Hull City at St Mary's on Tuesday night.

It was the Saints' first home defeat since September and Russell Martin's side now find themselves two points behind promotion rivals Ipswich Town and Leeds United.

They will be looking for an instant response as they welcome strugglers Milwall to the south coast on Saturday (15:00), who have reappointed Neil Harris as manager to replace Joe Edwards, four years after his last stint as Lions boss.

Millwall have lost six of their last seven in the league and he will be tasked with pulling the team away from a relegation scrap.

Match Odds

Southampton are the overwhelming favourites to win this one at 1/3. A draw can be backed at 4/1, while Millwall are 8/1 to pick up a rare victory.

Both teams to score is priced at 10/11 and over 2.5 goals is 8/13.

Team News

Southampton's two biggest injury concerns are Flynn Downes and James Bree, who are both out for the foreseeable future.

Ryan Longman, Kevin Nisbet and Aidomo Emakhu are sidelined for Millwall.

Southampton to win to nil @ 23/20

After seeing their unbeaten run end and two defeats in their last three, there will be slight concern from Southampton boss Martin. But just as they responded to their loss against Bristol City with a 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion, the Saints can bounce back again here.

Millwall's confidence is on the floor given their poor run of form and what's worse is that they have managed just three goals in their last seven outings.

They were comfortably beaten 4-0 by Southampton's promotion rivals Ipswich two games ago, which will bode well for a convincing Saints performance at St Mary's.

Southampton will need to get back to winning ways this weekend to keep themselves in the running for the second automatic promotion spot, and we're expecting a strong response from them here on Saturday.

Southampton -2 handicap @ 12/5

We are that confident in the Saints bouncing back this weekend and being capable of trouncing this Millwall side that we are backing them to overturn a handicap of two goals.

With the calibre of attacking players that Southampton boast in Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, Ryan Fraser, Samuel Edozie, Sekou Mara and Stuart Armstrong, goals shouldn't be hard to come by in this one.

The Lions have also leaked in eight goals in their last three league matches. You may wonder if Harris can inspire a new manager bounce this weekend but Millwall are by no means going to be an overnight fix. We are expecting their misery to continue for another weekend.