TEAM NEWS

Southampton captain Jose Fonte is a doubt with the badly cut knee that saw him miss the midweek League Cup defeat against Liverpool.

Jay Rodriguez, Fraser Forster and Florin Gardos are still out.

Villa could be missing both first-choice central defenders, with Ciaran Clark banned and captain Micah Richards nursing a knee injury.

Jores Okore may make his first appearance of the season, while Gabby Agbonlahor is fit after a calf injury.

Jack Grealish has been left out of the squad for the second week running as punishment for partying following the 4-0 defeat at Everton last month.

MOTD COMMENTATOR'S NOTES

Martin Fisher: "If Southampton fans are feeling a bit sorry for themselves after the crushing League Cup defeat by Liverpool on Wednesday, they should spare a thought for their counterparts from the West Midlands.

"Supporting Villa has been challenging for a few seasons now but even the most optimistic Holte End regular will find it difficult to present a decent argument on how Remi Garde can formulate a rescue plan.

"The squad don't seem to possess enough quality, belief or desire to escape relegation.

"Already seven points adrift of safety, Villa have lost six successive away games since their opening-day victory at Bournemouth.

"They left the south coast that day with hopes raised but I doubt the trip home will be similarly enjoyable this time."

Twitter: @martfisher1 

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman: "The balance at the moment between attacking and defending is poor, really poor.

"Maybe we have to change the system, maybe we have to play more defensively.

"I don't like that, because I'm a manager who likes to go forward, but we will speak about that with the players what's the best to do to prepare ourselves for this Saturday."

Aston Villa manager Remi Garde: "We are still in a bad position - not a crisis. We know we have to win games and didn't win the last one, we're disappointed because we should have had a better result (against Watford).

"The performance of the players pleased me but we made too many mistakes to win."

LAWRO'S PREDICTION

At least Southampton do not have to wait long to try to put Wednesday's heavy Capital One Cup defeat by Liverpool behind them.

They are up against an Aston Villa side who look like they are all over the place at the moment.

Lawro's full predictions v Charlatans singer Tim Burgess

• Think you can do better than Lawro? Predict the score for this match and the rest of this round's Premier League fixtures in our Predictor game.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Southampton have already beaten Aston Villa twice at St Mary's Stadium this year: 2-1 in the Capital One Cup in October, and 6-1 in May when Sadio Mane scored the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history in two minutes and 56 seconds.
• Villa's only win in the last six league meetings came in December 2013 when Fabian Delph's late goal clinched the points on the south coast.

Southampton

• They have suffered successive league defeats for the first time this season and lost three in a row in all competitions.
• The 6-1 League Cup defeat against Liverpool on Wednesday represented Southampton's worst at home for 56 years.
• All five of Southampton's Premier League wins have come against clubs currently in the bottom seven of the league table.
• The Saints have scored a league-high seven headed goals this season; they only managed three in 2014-15.
• Shane Long has scored three goals in his last five Premier League starts for the Saints.

Aston Villa

• Villa have gone 13 league games without a win, equalling an unwanted club record originally set from March to September 2012.
• Their tally of one point from their last 10 matches is five fewer than any other Premier League club has earned over the same period.
• All three of the previous sides with five points at this stage of a Premier League season went on to finish bottom of the division: Swindon in 1993-94, Sunderland in 2005-06 and QPR in 2012-13).
• Jordan Ayew has scored three of Villa's last four league goals.