Just days after winning here in the Carabao Cup, Manchester City look to do a double over Southampton in four days as they do battle again at the Etihad Stadium.
A win for Man City could see them move within three points of Liverpool if the Reds lose at Aston Villa, whereas Southampton will climb out of the bottom three with victory.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesAngelino is set to be sidelined for Man City after limping out of their midweek win with a knock.
Rodrigo could return from a thigh injury after the international break but Oleksandr Zinchenko, Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane remain ruled out with knee injuries.
Southampton are without Ryan Bertrand as he serves the second of a three match ban, after being sent off in the Saints’ 9-0 thumping by Leicester.
Sofiane Boufal and Nathan Redmond however are set to feature after overcoming knee injuries picked up in midweek.
Cedric Soares (calf) and Moussa Djenepo (thigh) still remain sidelined although both could return next weekend at home against Everton.
Form
Manchester City have lost just one of their last six games in all competitions but at home, the Citizens kept just two clean sheets throughout October which came against Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa respectively.
Southampton have taken just one win in their last seven across all competitions and have taken just a single point from their last five league games, although their eight league match scoring run ended last weekend in a nine goal crushing by Leicester.
Stat Attack
- Manchester City have won their last seven meetings with Southampton in all competitions, although their two recent wins have been by 3-1 results.
- Sergio Aguero has scored four goals in his last three appearances against Southampton.
- Southampton have scored in each of their last five trips to Man City.
- Man City have scored four more goals in their opening ten league games than they did at the same stage last season, when they had netted 28 goals to this season’s 32.
- Jan Bednarek is the only Southampton player to have made more than one error which led to conceded goals this season, doing so on three occasions.
Prediction
After last weekend’s Rocky Horror Show, Southampton did a solid job in midweek to concede just the three here but they need to learn from that game and continue to bounce back with another positive showing.
Man City however will be at full strength after resting some key players like Kevin De Bruyne on Tuesday night, which possibly makes them more dangerous than in midweek for the Saints to stop.
I however am going for a repeat of Tuesday’s result because I feel that City are starting to feel the rotation demands, which leaves them slightly vulnerable defensively if Southampton are clinical with their corners but City will have enough for a comfortable win.
Prediction: Manchester City 3-1 Southampton
Result: Manchester City 2-1 Southampton