England Premier League
Saturday 8th April 2023
Kick off at 5:30pm BST
Venue: St. Mary's Stadium
Match Preview:
The bottom club will take on the champions and everyone will be expecting Manchester City to make light work of Southampton and every Arsenal fan will be tuned in hoping that City can drop points.
As it stands Pep Guardiola’s team are 8 points behind Arsenal but have a game in hand and a win here would reduce that gap even further as Arsenal don’t play until Sunday. City are in great form and scoring goals too and have won their last 4 games culminating with their recent 4-1 win over Liverpool- a club who have for several seasons challenged City for the league title. This is a must win game for City, indeed every league game up until the end of the season is and away form has been good with 10 points won from their last 12 and overall they have the 2nd best away record in the league winning 27 of 42 points. City’s last away game ended in a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
We talk about the need for a win but Southampton need that just as bad being in 20th place and they seem to be slipping behind. The Saints have 23 points and are four points from safety, in a blink of an eye that could be 10 and they cannot afford to drop points and yet they are playing the best side in the country. Form has seen 5 points earned from their last 15 which isn’t the worst ever in their position but it also isn’t going to cut it and they need to push on. The Saints last game ended in a narrow 1-0 defeat at West Ham but that was also against a relegation threatened rival. The bad news for the club is that they currently have the worst home record in the league earning just 10 points from a possible 42.
Team News:
Southampton: Armel Bella Kotchap could be assessed but looks to be a doubt again due to his shoulder injury. Che Adams is still missing with a calf injury.
Manchester City: Phil Foden misses out again due to his recent operation on his appendix but he is the only casualty of the squad.
Southampton vs Man City Head to Head:
Last season this fixture finished 1-1.
The two teams played here as recently as January in the EFL Cup and Southampton were able to stun City with a 2-0 victory.
Manchester City have won six of the last 10 meetings between the two sides.
Earlier in the season in the reverse fixture Manchester City won 4-0.
Three of the last five meetings have seen under 2.5 goals.
Southampton vs Man City Prediction:
Though it looks like Southampton have very little chance to even snatch a draw they do have the ability to make life difficult for opponents and have shown they have a lot of heart on their day. Witness the recent 0-0 away to Manchester United or the 3-3 comeback against Tottenham which led to Antonio Conte’s meltdown and dismissal and you have to give credit to the Saints that on their day despite being the worst club in the league they can shine, and that just tells you how strong the Premier League is.
Manchester City haven’t always had it their own way here and when they have, the results have been very close. City have the quality to score 5 or 6 goals of course but you would have to believe that the Saints are going to play at 110% and make life as difficult as possible for the visitors. Still while the game could be close we can see Erling Haaland relishing his chances up front and it’s difficult not to see the Norwegian peel away in delight of another goal. City should really be too strong for the Saints but that isn’t to say the home side can’t let them know they have been in a game and we think it will play out like this.
Southampton vs Man City Betting Tips:
Half Time Correct Score: 0-0 or 1-0 to Manchester City at 3.25 and 3.00
First goalscorer: Erling Haaland at 3.00
Under 3.5 goals at 1.57
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