South Coast bragging rights are on the line once again on Saturday afternoon, where Premier League whipping boys Southampton will welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to St Mary's.

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As it turned out, slaying relegation rivals Ipswich Town on February 1 did not trigger a sustained revival for Ivan Juric's Southampton, who are still heading down their one-way street back to the second tier after suffering their 20th top-flight loss of the season.

Being dumped out of the FA Cup by Burnley had already killed any momentum from their recent triumph at Portman Road, and the Saints fell victim to a Ryan Christie masterclass last weekend, as the Bournemouth midfielder delivered a delightful cross for Dango Ouattara to head home before firing in a 20-yard strike of his own.

Kamaldeen Sulemana's fine finish gave Southampton hope while Bournemouth took their foot off the gas, but the Cherries belatedly woke up again and restored their two-goal cushion through Marcus Tavernier to leave the nine-points Saints 10 adrift of safety in the Premier League table.

To say that the St Mary's faithful have had little to cheer in the 2024-25 top flight would be a gross understatement, as Southampton have now suffered a shocking seven home losses in a row in the Premier League; only three teams have ever lost eight on the spin, most recently Watford in 2021-22.

Taking leads has not been where the hosts' issued have lied this term, but keeping hold of advantages most certainly has been, as they have dropped a whopping 20 points from winning positions in the Premier League campaign, the second-most in the top division behind Tottenham Hotspur's 21.

Such a grim statistic does not bode well against a Brighton side who recovered from a losing position to dump Chelsea out of the FA Cup fourth round, before repeating their Blues trick in much more emphatic fashion when Enzo Maresca's side visited again on February 14.

An outrageous Kaoru Mitoma touch and finish kicked off the Seagulls' slaughter before Yankuba Minteh and Danny Welbeck stole the show, the former benefitting from two assists from the latter to bag a brace for himself and end Brighton's two-game losing run in the top flight.

Seemingly fully recovered from their 7-0 embarrassment at the hands of Nottingham Forest at the start of the month, Fabian Hurzeler's men have consolidated their top-half standing in 10th position in the table, now six points behind recent victims Chelsea in the top six.

However, the Seagulls have tended to fare better against high-ranking teams in the 2024-25 Premier League season, as while they have triumphed in 46% of their matches with sides in the top half, they have only won 25% of games versus clubs in the bottom 10.

Brighton's struggles versus lower-table teams were laid bare in November's 1-1 home draw against Southampton, although that stalemate at least extended the Seagulls' unbeaten run over the Saints to six matches since a 2-1 home loss in December 2020, where a Danny Ings penalty sealed the deal.

Southampton possible starting lineup:

Ramsdale; Bree, Bednarek, Stephens; Sugawara, Aribo, Ugochukwu, Walker-Peters; Fernandes; Sulemana, Onuachu

Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:

Verbruggen; Minteh, Van Hecke, Webster, Veltman, Lamptey; Rutter, Baleba, Hinshelwood, Mitoma; Welbeck