It’s safe to say that the Etihad Stadium isn’t the place you want to go if you’re looking for your first win of the season. Unfortunately for Southampton, that’s exactly what they have to do this weekend.
Fourteenth-place Saints travel north to face Manchester City on Saturday afternoon, having picked up just three points from their opening four games.
🔜 #ManCity ✈️Delve behind-the-scenes at Staplewood 📸— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) September 15, 2021
🔜 #ManCity ✈️Delve behind-the-scenes at Staplewood 📸
At the opposite end of the table, Man City sit fifth – one point behind the top four and six points ahead of Southampton.
Pep Guardiola’s men kicked off the campaign with a loss to Tottenham. Since then, however, they have been unstoppable.
Man City head into Matchday 5 on a three-match winning streak, having dispatched Norwich (5-0), Arsenal (5-0) and Leicester (1-0) in recent weeks.
Thanks to a couple of big wins, the Cityzens are the joint-highest scorers in the Premier League, along with Manchester United.
Ferran Torres has bagged two goals and one assist, with eight other players – including £100-man Jack Grealish – finding the back of the net.
Oh Wednesday, Man City hammered RB Leipzig 6-3 in the Champions League. Once again, Torres and Grealish got on the scoresheet.
As for Southampton, they appear to have picked up where they left off last season – recording one loss and three draws so far.
After losing to Everton on the opening weekend of the campaign, Saints have drawn with Man Utd, Newcastle and West Ham.
As a result, the south coast side have only managed to win one of their previous four Premier League matches.
It is also worth pointing out that Southampton have conceded at least two goals in each of their last seven away games in England’s top tier.
Head-to-head: Man City have won nine of their previous ten meetings with Southampton in all competitions.
Guardiola’s men thrashed Saints 5-2 back in March, with Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez both scoring twice at the Etihad.
Team news: Man City have minimal injury concerns at the moment, with Liam Delap the only first-team player on the treatment table.
Southampton will be without Will Smallbone, Theo Walcott, Shane Long and Stuart Artmstrong this weekend.
Man City have completely dominated this fixture in recent years, winning nine of the previous ten meetings.
As a result, Forbet predicts that Man City will secure a high-scoring victory over Saints, with over 3.5 match goals expected.