Southampton vs Manchester City 30/12/18

30 December 2018

Southampton and Manchester City will face-off at the St. Marry’s Stadium, with the visitors looking to bounce back from back-to-back Premier League defeats.

The hosts suffered a 2-1 home loss to West Ham in midweek, which has brought their two-game Premier League winning run to an end. Midweek’s failure was Ralph Hasenhuttl’s second defeat since taking charge of the team as it was also the ninth consecutive league match in which the Saints failed to keep a clean sheet. Only two teams have clinched fewer triumphs than Southampton (3) this season, with the Saints winning just one of nine home outings this campaign. Still, Southampton are unbeaten in four of their last five home encounters (W1, D3, L1), with their previous three local games producing over 2.5 goals.

Meanwhile, the reigning holders are going through the most difficult time during Pep Guardiola’s tenure considering they’ve lost two out of their last four Premier League games, which has seen Man City dropping down to third place. With Liverpool topping the table with a seven-point lead of the Citizens, Pep Guardiola’s men can’t afford another failure. The Citizens come into this encounter hoping to end a two-game road losing streak during which they’ve conceded four goals while scoring just one in the process. Furthermore, Manchester City won just one out of their previous five competitive road games, failing to keep a clean sheet in each. However, Guardiola relays on the fact Man City beat Southampton in their last four H2H meetings, including an outstanding 6-1 home win they’ve pulled off back in November.

Provisional line-up – Southampton:

Gk: McCarthy Defense: Vestergaard – Yoshida – Bednarek – Valery – Targett Midfield: Lemina – Romeu Attack: Armstrong – Redmond – Ings

Provisional line-up – Manchester City:

Gk: Ederson Defense: Zinchenko – Stones – Laporte – Walker Midfield: Gundogan – De Bruyne – Bernardo Silva Attack: Sane – Aguero – Sterling