Man City will look to make it 8 wins out of 8 against Southampton when the 2 teams meet at St. Mary’s Stadium in Gameweek 33 of the Premier League this Sunday.
By Bhavya Mamgain
Fresh from dominant displays against Newcastle and Liverpool, Manchester City will take on Southampton, currently 14th in Premier League table with a mixed bag of results lately, but a tough side to beat nevertheless as would the game back in November suggest.
However, a lot has changed since then. Manchester City aren’t fighting for the title anymore, neither are Southampton battling relegation. In addition, playing at home would mean the Saints adopt a more positive game plan, while Manchester City could see a number of big stars being rested, having started 3 back to back games.
While a lot of dominance against Newcastle was down to the latter not willing to adopt a positive approach, Manchester City vs Liverpool was a fixture that was meant to be the clash between the 2 finest sides in England going toe to toe against each other. While a lot of excuses have been made for Liverpool getting humiliated, their performance in the first 30 minutes and their manager’s reaction post-match would suggest otherwise.
Team News
Southampton: Winger Moussa Djenepo and Defender Jack Stephens are both back from their respective suspensions. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Sofiane Boufal, Jannik Verstergaard and Yan Valery are all expected to remain out through injuries.
Manchester City: Fernandinho is back from suspension while Sergio Aguero remains out through injury. Leroy Sane, despite being eligible, will not be featuring for Manchester City again this season. There are no fresh injury concerns.
Form Guide
Southampton: Since the restart, Ralph HasenHuttl’s side has played 3 games, winning against Norwich and Watford while losing to Arsenal. They’ve scored 6 and conceded 3 goals in this period. At home, they have only won once in the last 5 games.
Manchester City: Pep Guardiola’s men have played 2 more games than their Sunday’s opponents since the restart, having won four games while losing the other. Manchester City scored an impressive 15 goals while conceding only twice, keeping 4 clean sheets in the process. On the road, City have only won twice in the last 5 games.
Head to Head
Under Pep, Manchester City have faced Southampton 8 times in all competitions and have won on 7 occasions, the other being a 1-1 stalemate at the Etihad back in 2016. At St. Mary’s, Pep has a perfect record of 3 wins out of 3, including the one that secured a record-breaking 100 points for Manchester City. Sergio Aguero (6) and Raheem Sterling (3) have scored most goals for Manchester City against Southampton.
In the last meeting between these two back in November 2019, City came from behind to win 2-1, courtesy of goals from Sergio Aguero and Kyle Walker.
Predicted Lineup
Laporte, Walker, Mendy, De Bruyne, Gundogan and Sterling have all started the previous 3 games so expect them to drop to the bench for this one, a move that is set to disappoint a lot of Fantasy Premier League managers. Eric Garcia might have already reached a stage where he could be rested for Stones, who has struggled for game time due to injuries and might see this as a perfect opportunity to make a comeback.
With not much left to play for in the Premier League now, Pep will have the freedom of testing his bench strength and keeping his core fit for the crucial Cup fixtures. Expect the newly crowned Manchester City U-23 Player of the Year Jayden Braaf to finally make the Matchday squad.
4-4-3: Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Fernandinho, Zinchenko; Bernardo, Rodri, Silva; Mahrez, Jesus, Foden
Subs: Bravo, Walker, Garcia, Otamendi, Mendy, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Braaf
Match Officials
Referee: Andre Marriner
Fourth official: Keith Stroud
VAR: Andy Madley
Match Details
Date: Sunday, July 5
Kickoff: 11.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports 1 & HD, Select 1 & HD
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