Manchester City hope to pour even more misery on newly-promoted Southampton this Saturday when the two sides meet at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League.
The reigning eight-time champions secured a late and controversial victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend to avoid another slip-up but have looked far from convincing domestically without the likes of Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne.
A 5-0 victory over Sparta Prague in the Champions League midweek should boost morale and they will be looking to inflict a similar scoreline on the winless Saints this weekend. Victory is of paramount importance given Arsenal and Liverpool face one another on Sunday.
Southampton’s search for a Premier League victory has been agonising and a 98th-minute strike from Leicester City’s Jordan Ayew last weekend saw them surrender a two-goal lead in another devastating defeat.
Securing a victory against City on the road will be borderline impossible but their recent trip to Arsenal showed their ability to cause the Premier League’s big dogs a few issues at the very least.
Here’s 90min’s preview of the game.
Man City vs Southampton H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Man City |
Southampton |
|---|---|
|
Man City 5-0 Sparta Prague – 23/10/24 |
Southampton 2-3 Leicester – 19/10/24 |
|
Wolves 1-2 Man City – 20/10/24 |
Arsenal 3-1 Southampton – 05/10/24 |
|
Man City 3-2 Fulham – 05/10/24 |
Bournemouth 3-1 Southampton – 30/09/24 |
|
Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Man City – 01/10/24 |
Southampton 1-1 Ipswich – 21/09/24 |
|
Newcastle 1-1 Man City – 28/09/24 |
Everton 1-1 (5-6p) Southampton – 17/09/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Not televised (Live radio commentary on talkSPORT 2) |
|
United States |
Peacock |
|
Canada |
fuboTV Canada, Fubo Sports Network 2 Canada |
City’s injury list is starting to grow at a pivotal moment in the season, with wingers Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish now out of action. Elsewhere, Rodri and Oscar Bobb remain long-term absentees, while Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker are still missing.
Pep Guardiola made a few alterations for the midweek demolition of Sparta Prague but the likes of Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Savinho, Bernardo Silva and John Stones are all likely to retain their starting spots for Southampton’s visit.
Ederson should return between the sticks as Stefan Ortega drops out, while Mateo Kovacic – who scored twice in City’s last Premier League home match – is likely to replace Matheus Nunes despite the Portuguese impressing on Wednesday.
Man City predicted lineup vs Southampton (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Lewis, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Gundogan; Savinho, Silva, Foden; Haaland.
Ryan Fraser will miss the journey to the Etihad after he was sent off against Leicester last weekend. Also missing are Ross Stewart, Gavin Bazunu and Will Smallbone – Russell Martin stating the latter will be out for “a little bit of time”.
The Southampton boss also confirmed that Yukinari Sugawara is touch-and-go to make the squad after he was withdrawn early against Leicester, but the south coast side do welcome Jack Stephens back from suspension.
Martin is likely to field a starting XI and formation that resembles the system he used against Arsenal before the October international break – five at the back with the intention of hitting City on the counter.
Southampton predicted lineup vs Man City (5-4-1): Ramsdale; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning; Dibling, Downes, Fernandes, Aribo; Archer.
The good news for Southampton is that City may have one side-eye on a midweek Carabao Cup clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
However, there is no doubt that Guardiola’s charges should waltz to victory on Saturday, even if they have made life unnecessarily difficult for themselves at times this season. Haaland will be desperate to end his mini Premier League drought and a porous Saints defence could be the perfect opponent for the Norwegian.
This match will not define Southampton’s season but they may well escape from the Etihad with their dignity intact.
Prediction: Man City 3-0 Southampton
READ THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS, RUMOURS & GOSSIP
