City’s crucial run-in continues as The Blues begin the first of what will be five home games in eight in the race for the title. Free flowing Southampton are the tricky opponents…
Vital Quotes:
Manuel Pellegrini:
‘Southampton are a very good team who are playing without pressure and are very comfortable in the table. They cannot be relegated and they can`t qualify for Europe so they are playing with freedom and we are absolutely sure we will have a hard game on Saturday.’
Mauricio Pochettino:
‘We have the belief in every single game that we are going to win. We know we are going to be facing a very tough side in Manchester City, a side that is definitely a candidate to win in the Premier League and are one of the best teams in England and Europe. Despite that we are still going with the belief that we are going to play our game and we are going to get something out of the game.’
Manchester City Team News:
OUT:
Matija Nastasić
Sergio Agüero
Player to watch: Álvaro Negredo
City’s Number 9 needs a goal badly and I expect that when he does bag one, he’ll be flying again. He hasn’t found the net since injuring his shoulder at West Ham where he scored a brace in January. Negredo’s track record tells us that he tends to end goal droughts with something spectacular.
Southampton Team News:
OUT:
Maya Yoshida
Nathaniel Clyne
Kelvin Davis
LATE FITNESS TEST:
Victor Wanyama
Player to watch: Rickie Lambert
He might well have just turned 32 years old but Lambert is still doing the business. Only Liverpool’s Luis Suarez with 11 has more assists his 10 in the Premier League this season. His experience has been key to Saints achieving 48 points in 32 top flight games for the first time since 1985.
Match Facts & Stats
THE NUMBERS GAME:
The Engineer has deployed only 23 players in the Premier League this season. Title rivals Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have used 25, whereas the irrelevant rags have thrown 27 at their shocking title defence.
City have won 19 of the 23 Premier League games in which they opened the scoring in this campaign.
This is The Blues competitive fixture of the season. It’s Southampton’s 39th.
HEAD TO HEAD:
League 26 Saints Wins, 22 Draws, 23 City Wins
League Cup 3 Saints Wins, 2 Draws
FA Cup 1 Saints Win, 2 City Wins
Total: 30 Saints Wins, 24 Draws, 25 City Wins
THIS COULD BE THE LAST TIME:
Sa 07Dec 2013 Southampton 1 – 1 Man City PL
Sa 09Feb 2013 Southampton 3 – 1 Man City PL
Su 19Aug 2012 Man City 3 – 2 Southampton PL
Su 28Jan 2007 Man City 3 – 1 Southampton FAC
Sa 01Jan 2005 Man City 2 – 1 Southampton PL
Betting: City 1/3 Draw 19/4 Southampton 9 Racing Post Soccerbase
FORM LAST 6 GAMES ALL COMPETITIONS:
Saints: LLWWLW
City: LLWWWD
CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR PREDICTIONS AND FOLLOW THE GAME LIVE IN THE VMC FORUM
TV COVERAGE: BT Sport 1 HD
LiveOnSat.com
mcfcofficial: PELLEGRINI: City v Southampton Press Conference
Ref Watch:
Chris Foy from Merseyside 4th Official R Madley
– Last Season:
Sa 01Sep 2012 Man City 3 – 1 QPR PL, Su 25Nov 2012 Chelsea 0 – 0 Man
City PL, Su 14Apr 2013 Chelsea 1 – 2 Man City FACSF
– This Season:
We 04Dec 2013 West Brom 2 – 3 Man City PL, Tu 21Jan 2014 West Ham 0 – 3
Man City LCSF2, Sa 22Feb 2014 Man City 1 – 0 Stoke PL
-2012/13: 31 Games, 64 Yellows, 2 Reds.
-2013/14: 28 Games, 77 Yellows, 6 Reds.
Match Prediction:
Johnny On The Spot:
There’s a fair few learned pundits earmarking this game as a difficult obstacle for Manchester City and with good reason. Not only are Southampton playing without any pressure, they take the field safe in the knowledge that they have been playing some lovely stuff of late, albeit with erratic results. However, I would offer up a word or two of caution to them as they’ve also lost their last 3 games at The Etihad?As City’s midfield and forward lines continue to link up successfully again, I’m singling out the City defence as the key to The Blues title bid. Not getting beaten in the final 8 fixtures will see Manuel Pellegrini’s men thereabouts come the days of reckoning next month. The signs are good. Arsenal’s equaliser in London last weekend ended City’s longest ever run in the Premier League without conceding. 9 hours and 21 minutes to be precise. That’s some going eclipsing Roberto Mancini’s previous defence based approach that realised the title in 2012. Further evidence for the case for the defence is that during the final 6 winning games that secured the championship that year, The Blues conceded only 3 goals, 2 coming in that famous final encounter with QPR. Anyroad, back to the future and I expect the fact that City have everything to play for to provide Saturday’s edge. City 3 Southampton 0
Next Fixtures:
all times East Manchester BST
Su 13Apr 13h30, Liverpool, Anfield, PL
We 16Apr 19h45, Sunderland, The Etihad, PL
Mo 21Apr 20h00, West Brom, The Etihad, PL
Su 27Apr 16h10, Crystal Palace, Selhurst Park, PL
Sa 03May 15h00, Everton, Goodison Park, PL
We 07May 19h45, Aston Villa, The Etihad, PL
Su 11May 15h00, West Ham, The Etihad, PL