First Half: Southampton 0-0 West Ham
New Saints boss Juric takes charge of first game with side rock bottom
Watch FREE highlights shortly after full time | Live PL table
Teams: No Paqueta for West Ham | Stats | Sky Bet
Live commentary by Sam Blitz and Ben Grounds
Here we go!
Out come the teams at St Mary's!
The Ivan Juric era is about to begin on the south coast. Can they pick up a win here in what could well be a winnable fixture?
Play Super 6 for a chance to win £250,000!
Super 6 returns today with a £250,000 jackpot - all you have to do is correctly predict the scores from six Premier League fixtures to win.
Play for free here, entries by 3pm!
Team news reminder!
Ten minutes to go until Ivan Juric's first game as Southampton boss. Here's a reminder of the two teams:
Southampton: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Wood; Sugawara, Downes, Ugochukwu, Walker-Peters; Fernandes; Armstrong, Onuachu
Subs: McCarthy, Bree, Manning, Fraser, Aribo, Lallana, Sulemana, Dibling, Archer
West Ham: Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson; Rodriguez, Soler, Soucek; Bowen, Fullkrug, Kudus
Subs: Areola, Cresswell, Coufal, Summerville, Guillherme, Ings, Alvarez, Todibo, Irving
The 2024 awards - the Essential review of the footballing year
As we count down to the end of a memorable year in football, relive the last 12 months in the Premier League and beyond as Sky Sports football journalists Ron Walker, Ben Grounds and Sam Blitz dish out the awards for the best and the worst of 2024.
Who's been top of the tree, who's been the surprise package... And who's been the biggest disappointment? Get the discussion started around the Christmas table in the company of Sky Sports.
Spotify This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
FREE match highlights after full-time!
A reminder that you can watch FREE match post-match highlights of this game on the Sky Sports website!
Stay tuned to this blog shortly after full-time to see the best of the action!
Watch Premier League goals and highlights free online for every match in 2024/25 season
Sky Sports
Lopetegui: We have to keep the positivity
West Ham are unbeaten in their last three matches but Julen Lopetegui’s position is still under scrutiny.
The Spaniard could do with a win, especially with games against Liverpool and Manchester City next up.
“It’s true that we are unbeaten but we’d like to have more points,” he added.
“We have to keep the positivity and try to improve. The players are improving a lot of things but it’s a big challenge.
“Three games left in December, we have to be ready to face the matches with a strong mentality and be ambitious. We have very difficult matches in front of us. We have to face it with the right mentality.”
Was Estupinan lucky to avoid red vs West Ham?
Ref Watch analyse Brighton defender Pervis Estupinan's challenge on Max Kilman during their Premier League fixture against West Ham.
LAST TIME OUT: West Ham hold Brighton
Lopetegui hopes West Ham can avoid new manager bounce at Southampton
Julen Lopetegui is hoping West Ham can avoid another dose of new manager bounce when they head to Southampton on Boxing Day.
The Hammers were thumped 3-1 at Leicester earlier this month in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first match in charge of the Foxes.
“I saw them play against Fulham, and other games, and they have quality players,” said Lopetegui of today's opponents, Southampton.
“With a new coach, always there is a new and extra energy among the players. We saw this in Leicester. It’s going to be a very, very difficult match for us. There is nothing else in our mind.
“Juric is a very experienced coach in Italy. For sure he’ll bring a new energy for the team when you change a coach.
“Above all they have good players. They’ve played well and have good technical and physical players. It’s like all challenges in the Premier League.
“We have to be ready to do our best and understand the match we have in front of us.”
Juric prepared to make PL 'history' with Saints
New Southampton boss Ivan Juric is staying really optimistic in an effort to keep his new team in the Premier League this season.
Juric's death metal style to management
New Southampton boss Ivan Juric insists the Premier League's bottom side can do "something exceptional" in their relegation fight as he prepares to implement his "death metal" style of play.
Juric revealed the Saints initially reached out two years ago when he was in charge of Torino, and while he remained at the Serie A side the Southampton project always remained a "dream."
The 49-year-old said: "It will be a very tough job and I know that in the history nobody stayed in the Premiership with this situation, but like I said, I think there are a lot of good players, and we have much better in some moments of the game.
"I am optimistic. I'm really optimistic. Even the other day, I saw their mentality, and it's the first step to doing better.
"I think we can do something exceptional. The guys have to be very motivated to do something that never, nobody did.
"They don't know me but I know them. I said that I believe in them, they have quality, they can do it. Be positive, work hard, and everything is possible.
"When I was young I liked death metal music a lot, and that's something I think my style of football is like metal music.
"Now a little bit less, I'm a little bit soft now, but it's always in my head, good metal music."
PL Predictions: New manager bounce for Saints?
Sky Sports tipster Lewis Jones:
The Saints battled their way to a hard-earned and deserved goalless draw at Fulham, restricting Marco Silva's side side to an expected goals figure of 1.04. It was a performance that had Ivan Juric's stamp all over it despite him not being officially in charge. His work at Torino, where they finished ninth last season before leaving for Roma, was built on solid foundations in defence. Only Inter Milan, Juventus and Bologna conceded fewer goals than Torino last season.
It's obviously worth treading carefully with any Saints bets in the early stages of the new manager and even though the overall numbers in the Premier League scream profit for over 2.5 goals backers, the under 2.5 line here at 6/5 with Sky Bet is too big to pass up.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-0
Premier League Predictions and best bets: Nottingham Forest to turn heat up on Ange Postecoglou and Spurs
Sky Sports
LAST TIME OUT: Saints deny Fulham a win
How the Premier League table looks...
Ivan Juric takes over at Southampton with his side eight points from safety.
It would be an almighty turnaround were the Croatian march the Saints to safety, probably one of the Premier League's all-time achievements...
West Ham lie eight points above the drop zone, this is a big chance to get three big points on the board...
Paqueta absent for West Ham at Saints
West Ham have also made two changes to their team, both of them coming in midfield.
Carlos Soler and Guido Rodriguez start over Edson Alvarez and Lucas Paqueta - the latter is not in the Hammers matchday squad due to suspension.
Niclas Fullkrug continues to lead the line after getting his first start against Brighton last time out...
Onuachu starts up front for Saints in Juric's first team
Southampton have made two changes from the team who held Fulham to a goalless draw last weekend, as Ivan Juric names his first Saints line-up.
In come Lesley Ugochukwu and Paul Onuachu in place of Joe Aribo and Tyler Dibling, who both drop to the bench.
Saints continue with the back five that kept them a clean sheet at Craven Cottage.
West Ham team news
Team to play Southampton: Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson; Rodriguez, Soler, Soucek; Bowen, Fullkrug, Kudus
Subs: Areola, Cresswell, Coufal, Summerville, Guillherme, Ings, Alvarez, Todibo, Irving
Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only.
Southampton team news
Team to play West Ham: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Wood; Sugawara, Downes, Ugochukwu, Walker-Peters; Fernandes; Armstrong, Onuachu
Subs: McCarthy, Bree, Manning, Fraser, Aribo, Lallana, Sulemana, Dibling, Archer
Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only.
Team news is in FIVE minutes!
What will Ivan Juric spring in his first Southampton line-up? Will Julen Lopetegui make any changes?
Find out here very shortly...
Who is new Saints boss Ivan Juric?
The Croatian manager started his coaching career working under Gian Piero Gasperini - who is currently the revolutionary head coach at Atalanta.
Juric worked in Gasperini's coaching staff at Inter Milan and Palermo, before taking his first job at Serie C side Mantova in the 2014-15 campaign.
The following season, he took a Serie B job at Crotone and got them promoted to Serie A for the first time in the club's history that term. He did not take them into the Italian top-flight though, as he was offered to replace Gasperini at Genoa, which he accepted.
Juric then had three separate spells at Genoa in the space of two years - being sacked by the club three times between February 2017 and December 2018.
He finally found stability at Hellas Verona in 2019, who had just been promoted to Serie A. With one of the smallest budgets in the league, he kept them in the top flight for two straight seasons - before taking the Torino job.
The Croatian left Torino at the end of last season after three seasons in Serie A and took on the Roma job in September of this year after The Friedkin Group sacked fan favourite Daniele de Rossi. Juric, however, did not even last two months as he was sacked with the Giallorossi four points above the relegation zone.
Ivan Juric: Southampton appoint former Roma boss to replace Russell Martin as manager
Sky Sports