Manchester City will look to remain on an upward curve when they come up against Southampton in the Premier League at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola’s side have had a turbulent time of things this season but they are showing signs of life heading down the final stretch of the campaign.
In fact, the Citizens made it five wins in succession across all competitions with a narrow 1-0 win over Wolves last Friday night.
That victory coupled with results elsewhere has lifted City up to third spot in the table heading into the final three rounds of top flight fixtures.
Southampton, in contrast, have endured a nightmare season upon their return to the Premier League as they get set for a quickfire return to the second tier.
Last week’s 2-0 loss at Leicester – which brought up one of my bets – means the Saints have still not managed to surpass the lowest-ever Premier League total of 11 set by Derby back in 2007-08.
How the bookies view it: A St Mary's stroll for City
Unsurprisingly, Manchester City make the long trip south to St Mary’s as heavy 2/11 favourites with Boylesports. City won and kept a clean sheet in this season’s reverse fixture and the same combination on Saturday will bolster the odds to an eye-catching 11/10 on Boylesports.
Southampton are a towering 12/1 on Boylesports to claim what would be just a third Premier League win of the season, while a share of the south coast spoils is also deemed unlikely at 11/2 with the same firm.
Head to head: History against the hosts
Man City have held the upper hand in this fixture in recent years, triumphing in 11 of their last 15 Premier League meetings with the Saints, including each of the last three.
Players to watch: Kevin to KO Saints?
Kevin De Bruyne has been utilised in a false–nine role to great effect in recent weeks, scoring in two of his last four outings in the Premier League. As such, the Man City maestro stands out for an anytime strike at St Mary’s at 13/8 with Boylesports.
One of Flynn Downes’ 10 Premier League yellow cards this term was shown during this season’s reverse fixture. The touch-tackling Saints midfielder is 9/4 on BetVictor to go into the book again this weekend.
Predicted line-ups
As was the case last weekend, Southampton again look set to be without injured duo Albert Gronbaek and Charlie Taylor.
Manchester City are starting to look stronger with their injury issues easing, with only John Stones, Nathan Ake and Rodri ruled out of this weekend’s trip to St Mary’s.
Southampton: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Downes, Ugochukwu, Manning; Fernandes, Sulemana; Stewart
Man City: Ederson; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Silva, Kovacic; Marmoush, Gundogan, Doku; De Bruyne
Anything else catch the eye?
Erling Haaland was named on the Man City bench last time out but boss Guardiola decided not to call upon the Norwegian ace.
However, Saturday’s clash with rock-bottom Southampton could represent an ideal opportunity to ease Haaland back into action as a substitute,
With that in mind, the Man City goal machine could be worthy of consideration to score the last goal of the game at 2/1 with Boylesports.
This English Premier League match between Southampton and Manchester City will be played on and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Southampton vs Manchester City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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