FREE TIP 23.01.2012

Southampton - Leicester

Tip : 1

Odd : 1.90

FT : ??

Promotion chasers Southampton welcome mid-table side Leicester City in the last match of the round. The host will be looking to swap positions once again with West Ham at the top of the table, who won on Saturday against Nottingham Forest. The Saints have not been out of the top two all season and have finally overcame a bad patch of form that saw them win only one out of 6 league games by winning back-to-back away games: Cup win over Coventry City (2-1) and 3-0 victory over struggling Nottingham Forest in the league. The Saints boast the best home record in the league (11W 1D 1L, 30-9 the scoreline)and the best scoring record, with 50 goals so far. Top-scorer Rickie Lambert serves his last game from a three-match ban, which means that David Connolly and Do Prado, who both scored on last weekend, look likely to continue in attack. Leicester have had high ambitions at the start of the campaign, with Sven-Goran Eriksson at the helms, but so far, they've been disappointing. Eriksson is out, while the Foxes remain 8 points behind a play-off berth. The guests go into this game on the back of a 4-0 FA Cup replay victory to Nottingham Forest, but in Championship they have failed to win six of their last seven matches (3 draws and 3 defeats). Defenders Sol Bamba and John Pantsil are on duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, while midfielder Andy King (4 goals) is injured. Leicester won the reverse fixture 3-2 in August, but they have never won at St Mary's (2 draws and 5 defeats) and I think that the drought will extend.