Pressure Building on Manchester City
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The Premier League continues on the weekend and there are some great games to look forward to on Sunday. One of which features defending Champions Manchester City, who travel to face Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium.
Southampton begin the weekend sitting just 3 points clear of the relegation zone. The gap may have closed by the time this game kicks-off and the Saints cannot afford to take their eye off the bottom three.
Manchester City need to win this match if they want to keep in touching distance of Liverpool at the top of the table. Tottenham Hotspur have also moved ahead of the Citizens into second place and dropped points could see Pep Guardiola’s team fall further behind.
Southampton were disappointed to lose the momentum they had built up under new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl as they went down 2-1 at home to West Ham United on Thursday night. Having recorded back-to-back victories over Arsenal at home and Huddersfield Town away, it appeared the club was on the up again.
However, trends show Southampton have won just six of their last forty-four Premier League, which is a very poor record and it may take some time for them to fully find their feet. Conceding goals has been a problem and Southampton have conceded at least once in each of their last nine league matches.
They have scored in each of their last four home games but have conceded 2 goals in each of the last three.
Manchester City suffered another major setback in their pursuit of the Premier League title on Saturday as they lost 2-1 at Leicester City. It was their second defeat in as many games following the 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace and there is a danger, they could fall 9 points behind Liverpool if they were to lose this game.
However, there is no denying the attacking talent at the disposal of Guardiola and trends show Manchester City have scored goals in ten of their last eleven Premier League games. In addition, they have scored 2 or more goals in forty-three of their last fifty-five Premier League matches, which is a great record.
Conceding goals has started to become an issue in away games and Manchester City have allowed 5 goals in their last three away Premier League games.
Looking ahead to the team news and Southampton will be monitoring the fitness of full-backs Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand ahead of the game. Shane Long and Charlie Austin are pushing for a place in attack.
Manchester City will be without the suspended Fabian Delph who was sent off in their previous game. With Benjamin Mendy injured, this creates a problem at left-back while Gabriel Jesus and Vincent Kompany are injured.
Southampton will be disappointed they lost their momentum against West Ham and they come up against a Manchester City team who have a point to prove. Expect the Manchester City players to come out firing and this could end in an away win, with both teams scoring.
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