Key events
Southampton v Manchester City is go …
1 min: Manchester City get the ball rolling, their players wearing their third kit of luminous yellow and black striped shirts, black shorts and luminous yellow socks. At least they won’t be hard to spot. The players of Southampton wear largely white shirts with a thick red striped down the middle, black shorts and white socks.
Not long now: Led by James Ward-Prowse and Ilkay Gundogan, both sets of players follow referee Robert Jones and his team of match officials out on to the St Mary’s sward and line up for the last of the pre-match niceties. Anything other than an emphatic Manchester City victory seems almost inconceivable but ahead of kick-off some Southampton fans will be daring to dream. The smart money suggests they are about the endure the stuff of their worst nightmares.
An email: “Could you attempt to give us a formation, with Pep changing tactics and formation every weeks,” asks Frederic Levrat. “I would say it is a 3-2-2-3 or a box 3-box-3. Stones, Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne occupying the midfield box.” Frederic, I would no more attempt to second-guess Pep than I would try to catch the wind in a butterfly net but other readers are welcome to try although kick-off is fast approaching.
Brighton: While I have not yet seen the game, by most if not all accounts, Brighton seem to have fallen victim to one of the most incompetent displays of officiating in Premier League history throughout their 2-1 defeat away at Spurs.
They had two goals chalked off, were denied a stone-wall penalty (an incident I have seen) and had their manager, Roberto Di Zerbi, sent to the stands alongside his opposite number, Cristian Stellini. One Spurs-supporting friend of mine who was present at White Hart Lane texts me to say “I don’t think the VAR machine was working”.
Today’s Premier League results
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Manchester United 2-0 Everton
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Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest
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Brentford 1-2 Newcastle United
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Fulham 0-1 West Ham
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Leicester City 0-1 Bournemouth
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Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brighton
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Wolves 1-0 Chelsea
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Southampton v Manchester City
Those teams: Ruben Selles makes four changes to the team that lost against West Ham last Sunday. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Carlos Alcaraz and Kamaldeen Sulemana all come into the side, with Romain Peraud, Djue Caleta-Car, Stuart Armstrong and Sekou Mara making way.
Erling Haaland starts for Manchester City, his first appearance for club or country since scoring a hat-trick against Burnley in the FA Cup on 18 March. So impressive against Liverpool last time out, Julian Alvarez makes way in the only change to Pep Guardiola’s line-up from last Saturday.
Southampton v Manchester City line-ups
Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Maitland-Niles, Alcaraz, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Elyounoussi, Walcott, Sulemana.
Subs: McCarthy, Caleta-Car, Onuachu, Perraud, Armstrong, Mara, Djenepo, Edozie, Diallo.
Manchester City: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Stones, Rodri, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Walker, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Silva, Gomez, Palmer, Lewis.
Today’s match officials
Early team news
Southampton are without striker Che Adams and defender Mohammed Salisu, who both remain sidelined after picking up injuries while on international duty with Scotland and Ghana respectively. Armel Bella-Kotchap is a doubt with a shoulder injury sustained during his side’s draw with Southampton, while long term absentees Valentino Livramento and Juan Larios are also unavailable.
Erling Haaland has been decared fit to play after recovering from a groin injury but Phil Foden is out as he convalesces after having his appendix removed. He’s likely to be out for at least a fortnight but otherwise Pep Guardiola has a full squad to choose from.
Premier League: Southampton v Manchester City
Rock bottom of the table and four points (and five goals in the plus column of the ledger) from safety, Southampton could scarcely welcome more daunting opposition to St Mary’s as they try to claw themselves out of the deep trouble in which they find themselves.
Currently playing under their third manager of the season in Alex Telles, Saints have taken just five points from the last 18 available and will do very well indeed to add to that tally against a Manchester City team that sit second behind Arsenal and have won seven consecutive games in all competitions, scoring 27 goals in the process.
While Manchester City won the corresponding fixture at the Etihad Stadium 4-0 what seems a lifetime ago in early October, Southampton subsequently caused quite the seismic shock by knocking Pep Guardiola’s team out of the Carabao Cup in a victory masterminded by Nathan Jones, who has since been fired.
Southampton can certainly take heart from that defeat but one suspects City will arrive at St Mary’s with revenge on their minds and could pile the hurt on their hosts, dealing a hammer blow to their survival hopes in the process. Kick-off on the south coast is at 5.30pm but you’re welcome to join us for team news and build-up in the meantime.
