Football Bet of the Day: Saints to squeeze through

Goals hard to come by in cup clash

Southampton v Shrewsbury
Tuesday 19 January, 20:00

We got the goals we wanted last night in Germany, but not in the right configuration. Hamburg hogged all of the goals in a 5-0 victory over Osnabruck, which ruined our BTTS bet. As everyone's favourite Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks would say - how rude.

We move to the south coast of England now, and a clash between Southampton and Shrewsbury. The shadow of COVID-19 looms over this tie, as an outbreak at Shrewsbury has meant the squad hasn't played a game in 2021 yet, and manager Steve Cotterill has had a spell in intensive care. As everyone wishes him a speedy recovery, his assistant Aaron Wilbraham will be in charge at St Mary's.

Before their enforced hiatus, Shrewsbury were on the charge in League One. They have won four of their last five games, drawing the other, and they have only conceded one goal in that spell. Cotterill is a pragmatist at heart, and his organisational abilities have clearly had a positive effect on a side that looked to be in relegation danger before he took charge.

Shrewsbury's preparation for this game has been chaotic and difficult, but Southampton have their own issues. Boss Ralph Hasenhüttl says many of the recovery facilities his players would normally have access to are off-limits because of the pandemic, and a compacted schedule is taking its toll. Star striker Danny Ings is out, and so is defender Jannik Vestergaard. Hasenhüttl says he'll employ a mix of young players and fringe players.

Even with a weakened side, Saints should still have enough to progress here against a rusty and discombobulated Shrewsbury. Southampton have only scored one goal in their last five matches, so although I'll back them to win, I'll also go for Under 3.5 Goals on the Same Game Multi at 1.824/5.