Southampton vs Manchester City: Relegation candidates in for tough test

Topics: TV Listings, TV Schedules, Southampton, Manchester City, English Premier League

Pep Guardiola's side will be very confident of trying to narrow the gap on current league leaders Arsenal when they travel to face struggling Southampton on Saturday.

Relegation candidates Southampton will be in for a tough test when they welcome title chasers Manchester City on Saturday. The Saints currently sit at the foot of the table, and come into this contest having suffered a major setback as they were beaten 1-0 by fellow relegation-threatened West Ham. That being said, all is not lost for Ruben Selles, who is the newest manager in charge following the sackings of Ralph Hasenhuttl and Nathan Jones.

At the moment, Southampton have earned 23 points, but are just four points away from safety. A look at the table will reveal an intriguing battle between nine teams who are all in danger of playing in the Championship next season. Of course, the Saints will need to turn things around quickly in order to start putting some distance between themselves and the teams who will feature in English football's second tier, and it will be much easier said than done against a City side who have been in imperious form as of late.

Indeed, Pep Guardiola's men, who are warming up for a Champions League quarter-finals tie against Bayern Munich next week, come into this contest having won their last four Premier League games in a row and their last seven ties across all competitions. Although current league Arsenal have managed to put some distance between themselves and Guardiola's troops, the Cityzens still do have a shot at successfully retaining their Premier League crown. Of importance, however, will be to win this upcoming game, which would narrow the gap to five points ahead of Arsenal's crunch clash against Liverpool on Sunday.

While the game against Bayern Munich will be looming on the minds of City's players, the first order of business will be to make it five wins on the spin in the league in order to remain within touching distance of Arsenal. Given City's track record, which has seen them lose just one of their last 13 Premier League meetings against Southampton, it's safe to assume that barring a surprising turn of events, Guardiola's side will record a relatively comfortable win to heap more pressure on their struggling hosts this weekend.

Team news: Southampton vs Manchester City

Southampton: Mohammed Salisu and Che Adams are definitely out, along with Tino Livramento and Juan Larios. Armel Bella-Kotchap is a big doubt ahead of this game.

Manchester City: The visitors have been given a major boost with Erling Haaland set to return following his recovery from a groin injury. This means that Guardiola has no real selection concerns ahead of this game.

Match facts: Southampton vs Manchester City

Southampton have only won one of their last 13 Premier League matches against Manchester City (D3 L9)
City have won their last four Premier League games - they're hoping to win five on the spin for the first time since April-May 2022
The Cityzens have also won their last 10 Premier League games against teams sitting at the bottom of the table