Manchester City vs Southampton Preview: Where to Watch, Live Stream, Kick Off Time & Team News

Manchester City welcome Southampton back to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday in the Premier League, just four days after they knocked the Saints out of the Carabao Cup.

City have responded well since losing to Wolves at the start of the month, winning their last four games in all competitions, including back-to-back wins in the Premier League. However, due to the impressive form of rivals Liverpool, Pep Guardiola’s side still find themselves six points adrift of the Reds, who sit top of the table.

Therefore, City must keep on grinding out wins and they could not have hoped for a better side to face this weekend than Southampton, who were hammered 9-0 at home by Leicester City last weekend in a Premier League record scoreline.

Confidence in the Saints camp will therefore be extremely low and with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team currently sitting on eight points and inside the relegation zone - it could be another difficult afternoon on Saturday.

With much at stake at both ends of the table, here is 90mins preview of Saturday’s encounter.

Where to Watch

When Is Kick Off?	Saturday 2 November
What Time Is Kick Off?	15:00 (GMT)
Where Is it Played?	Etihad Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream?	BBC Sport Final Score/BT Sport Score (UK)
Referee?	Lee Mason

Team News

Guardiola has a huge amount of defensive injury problems currently with long-term absentee Aymeric Laporte being joined in the treatment room by Oleksandr Zinchenko and Rodri – with the former set to miss six weeks while he recovers from recent knee surgery with the latter out with a hamstring strain.

The loss of both is a blow for City, but with John Stones now fit again, and Benjamin Mendy available at left-back, there are enough players available for Guardiola in the defence. Fernandinho also returns after missing the cup game through suspension after being sent off against Aston Villa last time out.

In attack, it remains to be seen whether Sergio Aguero, who scored twice against Southampton in the Carabao Cup, starts up front ahead of Gabriel Jesus, with the Argentina international only finding himself on the bench in the club’s last two Premier League games.

Meanwhile, for Southampton, other than Ryan Bertrand who is suspended for the clash, they have a fit squad to choose from. It is likely Hasenhuttl will make changes from the side that lost 9-0 to Leicester last Friday though, with goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and defender Jack Stephens both hoping to start after playing well against City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Up front it is expected that Danny Ings - who has scored six times in 12 appearances this season - will get the nod, after Shane Long failed to take his chance against City.

Predicted Lineups

Manchester City	Ederson; Cancelo, Otamendi, Stones, Mendy; Gundogan, De Bruyne, D. Silva; B. Silva, Sterling, Aguero.
Southampton	McCarthy, Valery, Bednarek, Stephens, Yoshida, Hojbjerg; Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong; Redmond, Ings.

Head to Head Record

Saturday’s meeting will be the 92nd time the two sides have faced, and there's not much, historically, that separates the sides. City have won 35 times with Southampton coming out on top in 31 occasions meaning there has been 25 draws between the two.

Over recent years though, City unsurprisingly hold the better record, having won ten of the last 12 Premier League games between the sides. In fact, it was a year ago to this weekend that the teams last met at the Etihad in the league and Guardiola’s side trounced Southampton 6-1 that day, with Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Leroy Sane, and Aguero all netting that day.

Recent Form

As alluded to earlier, Manchester City have been in good form since losing to Wolves at the start of the month. They beat both Crystal Palace and Aston Villa with ease in the Premier League in October, netting five across the two games and not conceding once.

These two games sandwiched City’s 5-1 thumping against Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League which has left them top of their group with three wins from their opening three games in that competition.

For Southampton, it has been a pretty dire few weeks. Not only were they humiliated by Leicester at home, with their 9-0 defeat meaning they joined Ipswich Town in being the only side in Premier League history to lose by nine goals, they have also tasted defeat to Chelsea, Spurs and as mentioned, Manchester City in the last month.

Over the last five games they have conceded 19 goals and have scored just four, which has left them in 18th place in the Premier League and out of the Carabao Cup.

Here are how the two teams have performed in their last five games.

Manchester City	Southampton
Manchester City 3-1 Southampton (29/10)	Manchester City 3-1 Southampton (29/10)
Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa (26/10)	Southampton 0-9 Leicester (25/10)
Manchester City 5-0 Atalanta (22/10)	Wolves 1-1 Southampton (19/10)
Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester City (19/10)	Southampton 1-4 Chelsea (06/10)
Manchester City 0-2 Wolves (06/10)	Tottenham 2-1 Southampton (28/09)

Prediction

It is hard to envisage anything other than a Manchester City win this Saturday given the difference in quality of the two sides and the current rut of form Southampton are currently in.

City dismantled the Saints 3-1 on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup without the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and David Silva who were all rested. Therefore, with all three likely to come back into the side this weekend, it could be a really long afternoon for Southampton in a game which City will be fired up in as they need to win to keep themselves in the title race.

Prediction: Manchester City 4-0 Southampton

Source : 90min