Southampton vs Man City preview, team news, kick-off, prediction

Saints have clean bill of health; will Sergio Aguero be involved?; follow Southampton vs Man City with our live blog on Sky Sports website and app on Saturday afternoon.

Team news

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has reported no fresh selection concerns ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Saturday.

Winger Nathan Redmond came off the bench during the second half of Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal and is pressing for a recall.

Defender Mohammed Salisu was again an unused substitute as the Ghanaian centre-back closes in on a belated debut following a summer switch from Real Valladolid.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is unsure to what extent striker Sergio Aguero can be involved for City after he suffered a fresh setback this week.

The Argentinian, recently over a knee problem, returned from illness to feature as a substitute in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom but subsequently missed training on Thursday with an undisclosed issue before returning on Friday.

Guardiola otherwise has no fresh problems, though Eric Garcia and Oleksandr Zinchenko are expected to miss out again.

The Argentinian, recently over a knee problem, returned from illness to feature as a substitute in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom but subsequently missed training on Thursday with an undisclosed issue before returning on Friday.

Guardiola otherwise has no fresh problems, though Eric Garcia and Oleksandr Zinchenko are expected to miss out again.

Jones Knows prediction

If I had to choose which club I’d rather pay to watch, then Southampton would be getting my hard-earned over Man City at the moment. It’s not often you would pass up the opportunity to bask in the glory of a Pep Guardiola side in full-flow but apart from Kevin De Bruyne, City have failed to get my adrenaline going this season. It’s ponderous, it’s predictable.

Quite why they only started throwing the kitchen sink at West Brom in injury-time in midweek was pretty baffling – they seem to be playing with the arrogance of a Guardiola side but without the actual substance to back it up. Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling have managed just one goal between them in their last 700 minutes of action combined and a low expected goals figure of 2.84 suggests it’s a barren run which is no anomaly.

Maybe Guardiola is thinking that slow and steady is the key to winning this unusual Premier League title race – but City are in danger of becoming tailed off. They could be further behind by full time here.

Any sign of weakness will be seized upon by sprightly Southampton, who have won four of the last five Premier League games at St Mary’s. City look short at 4/9 with Sky Bet.

As we mentioned in midweek, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are notoriously fast starters and have now been ahead in eight of their 13 matches at half-time, scoring 15 goals – no team has scored more. They are 9/4 to score once in the first half. That fast start can lay the foundations for a positive result.

Opta stats

• Southampton are looking to win back-to-back Premier League games against Man City for the first time since May 2003 (a run of three), after winning this exact fixture 1-0 in July last season.
• Manchester City’s 0-1 defeat in this exact fixture last season ended a run of six straight Premier League victories against Southampton, across which they had netted 17 goals.
• Southampton’s 1-0 win against Man City in July ended a run of 16 consecutive Premier League games in which they’d conceded to the Citizens. They last recorded consecutive clean sheets against them between March 2001 and May 2003 (3 games).
• Southampton have won their final league match before Christmas in each of their last two seasons – both away wins against Huddersfield Town and Aston Villa.
• When their final league match before Christmas has fallen away from home, Manchester City have registered just two wins in their last 16 attempts (D5 L9), with this their first on the road since a 1-2 defeat to Arsenal in December 2015.
• Manchester City have won their last 11 away Premier League matches kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday and haven’t lost an away Saturday 3pm game since September 2013, when they were beaten 3-2 by Aston Villa.
• Southampton have scored at least twice in each of their last seven Premier League home games, scoring 16 goals in total in that run. Saints’ previous 16 league goals at St Mary’s had come over a period of 16 games.
• Manchester City have drawn their last two Premier League games. They’ve not gone three without a win in the competition since a run of four in March/April 2017, the first three of which were all draws.
• Man City’s Sergio Agüero has been involved in 10 goals in his last 10 Premier League games against Southampton, scoring six and assisting four.
• Raheem Sterling has been involved in 148 goals in all competitions for Manchester City since Pep Guardiola joined the club and is just two goals/assists away from becoming the first player to reach 150 goal involvements for the club under the Spaniard.