Southampton will be looking to pick up all three points when they host in-form Crystal Palace in the Premier League at St Mary’s on Wednesday night.

The Saints made a disappointing return to their south coast home – following a two-month period without a match there – as they played out a goalless draw with local rivals Bournemouth on Saturday, and manager Claude Puel will hope that his team can improve on that result in midweek.

Puel’s men have only tasted success on five occasions at home in the top flight this term, and it is far from being the fortress that it once was.

It won’t be an easy task to take all three points against Sam Allardyce’s men either, as they have hit form just at the right time of the campaign as they look to stay away from the relegation spots – the Eagles are currently four points above the bottom three.

Here are four reasons Southampton will slip up on the south coast against Palace…

No Gabbiadini, no goals

Southampton’s main problem prior to the end of the January transfer window had been their struggle to put the ball in the back of the net – enter Manolo Gabbiadini.

The Italian hit the ground running and quickly became the goalscorer the club had been craving all season after netting six goals in his first five matches, however he picked up a groin injury in the defeat to Tottenham last month.

That issue kept him out of the Bournemouth game on Saturday and Saints failed to find the scoresheet, which doesn’t bode too well against Palace when they will once again be missing the 25-year-old.

Bogey team

The Eagles have become something of a bogey team for Southampton in the last couple of years – winning four of the last seven matches in all competitions between the two teams – including a 3-0 win at Selhurst Park in December which included a nightmare moment for goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

That success was their only one in a difficult run of 15 Premier League games in mid-season that saw Alan Pardew given the boot.

Palace have also won twice at St Mary’s in the FA Cup in recent seasons, and they will be confident of picking up another victory on the south coast on Wednesday.

The threat of Benteke and Zaha

Since Saints have been without Virgil van Dijk because of injury, Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens have often struggled when they have come up against a tall and physical striker – think back to Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the EFL Cup final and Andy Carroll in West Ham’s 3-1 win at St Mary’s in February.

That will be something of a worry for Saints boss Claude Puel, especially after Christian Benteke put in an impressive performance at Stamford Bridge on Saturday – the big Belgian scored his side’s winning goal.

Wilfried Zaha has also hit a rich vein of form and he scored the opener before assisting Benteke for the second against the Premier League leaders at the weekend, and the Southampton backline must ensure they keep the duo quiet on Wednesday night.

Palace are in sparking form

Sam Allardyce’s side looked to be in real danger of slipping out of the Premier League when they suffered a surprise 4-0 home defeat by fellow strugglers Sunderland in February and continued to leak goals left, right and centre.

However, they have turned things around in recent weeks and four straight Premier League wins – in which they have conceded on just one occasion – has put them four points above the relegation zone.

The latest of those came in a 2-1 success against leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with the likes of Benteke, Zaha and Mamadou Sakho proving to be particularly impressive performers in the sequence of victories.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.