Southampton v Plymouth: Saints to extend impressive unbeaten streak

• Southampton unbeaten in 16 (W11-D5-L0)

• Plymouth remain winless on the road

• Saints backed at St Mary's

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Southampton 1.374/11 thrashed Swansea 5-0 on Boxing Day to move up to third in the Championship standings and extend their unbeaten run to 16 games - the club's longest stretch without a league defeat since 1921/22. Ryan Fraser netted a brace, while Joe Aribo, Sam Edozie and Che Adams also struck as Saints flexed their muscles at St Mary's.

Head coach Russell Martin praised his players, who he felt repaid him for allowing the squad Christmas Day off. He said, "They had yesterday off because they are human beings and I always preach how important family is. Having one day to focus on family and chill out will make a big difference in this period of games. Hopefully it showed with their performance."

Left-back James Bree has been ruled out of the festive fixtures and so Ryan Manning will continue in an otherwise unchanged backline on Friday, although defensive midfielder Shea Charles is expected to return after missing out against Swansea through suspension with Flynn Downes making way. Martin may also look to freshen things up further forward.

Plymouth 8.207/1 caretaker boss Neil Dewsnip revealed the Argyle players were 'devastated' not to have won their away Boxing Day clash after settling for a 2-2 draw at Cardiff. Morgan Whittaker scored two goals to give the Pilgrims just their fifth away point of the season with the Devon giants going onto to hit the woodwork as they pressed for a late winner.

It was a second successive draw for Plymouth following Steven Schumacher's departure for Stoke with Dewsnip saying, "We are disappointed. The players were devastated they have not won the game. I thought we had more than enough chances to do so and it's an opportunity missed. What we've got to learn to do is when we're in front is to stay in front."

Argyle made six changes to their starting XI with Macaulay Gillesphey, Butcher, Callum Wright, Mickel Miller, Adam Randell and Kaine Kesler-Hayden all coming into the side. Captain Jordan Houghton was ruled out by illness but should be available again on Friday; Ryan Hardie may also be back, whilst Dan Scarr has now served his three-match suspension.

Saints to extend unbeaten streak

Southampton are unbeaten in 16 (W11-D5-L0) Championship contests, a run that started back in mid-September. During that sample, Saints have posted W7-D1-L0 at St Mary's and shipped only four home goals - Russell Martin's men have managed five clean sheets in their most recent seven outings, as well as four successive shutouts as hosts.

Those eye-catching figures are backed up by the underlying data. Southampton rank second for Expected Points (xP) over the last 16 matches with the Hampshire outfit topping the tree for non-penalty Expected Goals (npxG) ratio over the same period. Meanwhile, Saints have returned W8-D2-L0 when welcoming sides outside of the top-two to St Mary's this term.

Plymouth are still searching for their first away victory since promotion, collecting only five away points from 12 tussles thus far (W0-D5-L7). Argyle have shipped multiple goals in seven of those showdowns, averaging only 0.75 goals per-game of their own; the Pilgrims also rank as a bottom-three side on their travels according to xP ratings.

Interestingly, only one of Southampton's past 18 league fixtures have featured five goals or more and with just two of Plymouth's away days following suit, I'm happy to support Southampton to win and Under 4.5 Goals at 4/51.80 on Friday. All bar one of Saints' triumphs have seen this wager pay-out and it's difficult to oppose the hosts in their current vein.

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