Manchester City will be looking to climb to the top of the Premier League table when they welcome a struggling Southampton side to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The two teams meet for the first time since April 2023 when Erling Haaland scored twice in a 4-1 top-flight victory at St Mary’s.
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Match Overview
After leaving it late to claim maximum points in a 2-1 Premier League victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, Manchester City cruised to a 5-0 home win against Sparta Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Phil Foden put the Citizens ahead in the third minute, before three goals in the space of 10 second-half minutes saw the hosts take control of the contest.
Erling Haaland scored twice, including an acrobatic backheel volley, either side of John Stones’s header, before Matheus Nunes – an impressive performer on the night – added a fifth with a late penalty.
Pep Guardiola’s side have climbed to third in the 36-team UCL table having accumulated seven points from the first three fixtures, and they have also become the first team in European Cup/Champions League history to go 26 games unbeaten in the competition, breaking the previous record held by rivals Manchester United (25).
A trip to Sporting Lisbon on matchday four is penciled in for early November, but Man City must now shift their focus back to the Premier League where they are the only team yet to lose after eight matches.
Sitting second with 17 points, the Citizens will move to the summit with a victory over Southampton, before current leaders Liverpool lock horns with third-placed Arsenal on Sunday.
Man City, who are enjoying their longest-ever unbeaten Premier League run (31), will fancy their chances of success on Saturday as they have won 10 of their last 13 top-flight meetings with Southampton, while they are unbeaten in 12 encounters with the Saints at the Etihad (W10 D2).
Southampton’s Struggles
For the first time in English top-flight history, as many as four teams have failed to win any of their opening eight games, and one of those is Southampton, who have drawn one and lost seven matches since gaining promotion from the Championship last season.
The Saints were seemingly on course to claim their first three points of the campaign against Leicester City last weekend after Cameron Archer and Joe Aribo had given them a two-goal half-time lead.
However, a brilliant second-half revival from the Foxes, including a dramatic 98th-minute winner, turned the contest on its head and they came away from St Mary’s with a 3-2 victory.
Southampton have now gone 21 Premier League games without a win (D5 L16) and although the pressure is beginning to mount on head coach Russell Martin, the club’s hierarchy reportedly have no immediate plans to part ways with the 38-year-old.
Sitting 19th in the Premier League table with just one point, but only three points adrift of safety, Southampton head into Saturday’s match seeking to avoid failing to win any of their opening nine matches of a league campaign since 1998-99 (nine).
Claiming a positive result against Man City will be a tall order for the Saints, though, as they have only won one of their last 14 Premier League meetings with the Citizens – a 1-0 home win in July 2020 – while they last celebrated success at the Etihad back in April 2004 when they won 3-1 under former boss Paul Sturrock.
Team News
Manchester City will have to cope without Jack Grealish (knock) and Jeremy Doku (muscle), who are the latest names to join the club’s growing injury list that also includes Rodri (ACL), Oscar Bobb (leg fracture), Kevin De Bruyne (groin) and Kyle Walker (knee).
Guardiola is unable to make wholesale changes to his team for Saturday’s contest now that his squad is down to its bare bones, but he is expected to recall a few first-team stars, including Ederson, Josko Gvardiol, and Mateo Kovacic.
After scoring one goal and providing two assists in midweek, Matheus Nunes could be rewarded with another start in a makeshift role on the left flank, with Savinho on the right and both Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva operating in advanced midfield positions in behind central striker Haaland.
As for Southampton, Ryan Fraser (suspended), Gavin Bazunu (Achilles), Ross Stewart (muscle), and William Smallbone (hamstring) are all unavailable for selection, while Yukinari Sugawara (unspecified) is doubtful after coming off early against Leicester.
However, the Saints are able to welcome back Jack Stephens, who has served a three-match ban and is in contention to join Jan Bednarek and former Man City defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis in central defence.
Joe Aribo could once again link arms with Flynn Downes and Mateus Fernandes in midfield, while rising star Tyler Dibling is likely to start in attack with striker Cameron Archer, who has scored two Premier League goals in his last two games.
Predicted Lineups
Manchester City possible starting lineup: Ederson; Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Lewis, Kovacic; Savinho, Bernardo, Foden, Nunes; Haaland
Southampton possible starting lineup: Ramsdale; Stephens, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis; Walker-Peters, Aribo, Downes, Fernandes, Manning; Dibling, Archer
