Southampton vs Brentford LIVE commentary: Relegation-threatened Saints seek back-to-back home wins against high-flying Bees

Southampton welcome Brentford to the south coast tonight as they continue their fight against Premier League relegation.

The Saints have tightened up at the back since Ruben Selles replaced Nathan Jones in the hotseat at St Mary’s and they have only conceded one goal in his first four league games.

They beat Leicester 1-0 in their last home game and a similar result would see them jump out of the drop zone.

Meanwhile, Thomas Frank’s men are sitting in ninth but must bounce back after their unbeaten run was ended by Everton at the weekend.

The Bees have won on their last two visits to St Mary’s and will be confident of doing so again and leaping above Fulham.

Southampton vs Brentford: talkSPORT coverage

This Premier League clash is set to take place on Wednesday, March 15.

Kick-off at St Mary’s is scheduled for 7:30pm.

talkSPORT will have live coverage from the south coast via the talkSPORT app.

Ian Danter and former Saints striker David Connolly will be your commentary team for this one.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Southampton vs Brentford: Team news

The hosts remain without Tino Livramento as he continues his recovery from a long-term knee injury.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is likely to miss out with a knock and Juan Larios is nursing a muscle problem.

Carlos Alcaraz, who scored the winner against Leicester but was substituted with an injury, started Sunday’s draw with Manchester United and should be raring to go again.

Meanwhile, Brentford are without Keane Lewis-Potter and Thomas Strakosha but don’t have any other problems.

However, after a poor display at Goodison Park, it would be a surprise if Frank didn’t rotate his squad.

Southampton vs Brentford: What has been said?

Southampton interim manager Selles: “It’s so tight but we knew when we got the team it was to make games difficult for the opponent and to look in our performance and to control the things that we can control.

“I think we are doing that. And more than the three points (tonight), it’s for us to have the personality to bring our game into the game and to have a big performance.

“And if we do that, we’re going to have the chance to win the game.”

Southampton vs Brentford: Match facts

• All three Premier League meetings between Southampton and Brentford have been won by the home side, with each victory being by a margin of three goals. Saints won this exact fixture 4-1 last season. 
• Brentford have won their last two league games against Southampton, including a 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture this season. They last did the league double over Saints in 1958-59, while they’ve never won three in a row against them before in league competition. 
• Brentford are winless in all seven of their midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games. They lost all five such matches last season, while drawing both games so far this term. 
• After beating Leicester 1-0, Southampton could win back-to-back home games in the Premier League for the first time since February 2022. However, Saints have fewer home points (9) and home wins (2) than any other side in the top-flight this term. 
• Brentford lost for the first time in 13 Premier League matches against Everton last time out – the Bees haven’t lost consecutive matches in the competition since February 2022. 
• Southampton are looking to keep three consecutive Premier League clean sheets for the first time since a run from December 2020 to January 2021. Their two clean sheets in their last two games are as many as they had kept in their first 24 league matches of the season beforehand. 
• Southampton have picked up seven points in four Premier League games under Rubén Sellés (W2 D1 L1), as many as they had in their previous 12 league matches before the Spaniard’s first in charge (W2 D1 L9). 
• Carlos Alcaraz could become only the second player to score in each of his first three home Premier League appearances for Southampton, after David Hirst, who did so when Saints played at the Dell in November 1997. 
• Bryan Mbeumo has been directly involved in three goals in his three Premier League games against Southampton (1 goal, 2 assists), scoring and assisting in Brentford’s 3-0 win earlier this season. 
• No player has scored more than two Premier League goals at St. Mary’s Stadium for Southampton this season (Carlos Alcaraz, Joe Aribo, Romain Perraud all 2 each), the joint-lowest tally of goals any team’s top scorer at home in the competition has netted in 2022-23, along with Everton (Demarai Gray, Dwight McNeil both 2).