Southampton vs Manchester City Prediction: City to dominate on the south coast

Southampton welcome Manchester City to St Marys Stadium on Saturday evening, Live on Sky Sports. The current table toppers and reigning champions will be looking to make it 13 wins on the bounce whilst Saints will be trying to break into the top half of the Premier League.

Southamptons 4 game unbeaten streak (2W,2D) came to an end in their last outing, as they were defeated 3-1 by Wolves. A win here would see them sneak into the top 10 but face a tough task Vs Guardiolas side. Hassenhuttl will be inspired by his sides’ 0-0 performance in the reverse of this fixture earlier on in the season, but will be aware they have lost 4 of the last 5 head-to-heads on home soil.

Manchester City head into this fixture as short as 1/4 and given the form of the away side it’s easy to see why. Despite failing to score in their previous 0-0 draw with the Saints, they will be confident of making it 13 consecutive wins - City have opened the scoring more than other side this campaign and are yet to drop a single point when taking the lead. Another win here would see them extend the gap at the top of the League to 14 points, which will take some catching in the second half of the season.

Southampton will be without Livramento and Will Smallbone as they are absent through injury. Djnepo misses out due to AFCON.

Guardiola only confirmed absentee is Liam Delap as it stands, with Ake, Zinchenko and Cole Palmer needing to be assessed. Mahrez is unlikely to feature after his time away with Algeria.

I already touched on the form of the away side, and their control over games when going ahead – having not dropped a single point when taking the lead this season. This 5/6 shot looks a generous price all things considered, available with most books.

Man City lead the way with the most goals scored inside the first 15 minutes (12) which always bodes well for this type of bet. Even more impressively, they have only conceded 2 first half goals in 20 Premier League matches!

Considering these two stats specifically, I am happy to have 1.5 points on the City HT/FT. City should have to much for Southampton and could be a case of getting an early goal and controlling the game from there onwards.

My second play I’ll be having half a point on this stat based treble using Bet365’s bet builder feature.

- 12 of the last 13 Man City opponents have seen this goal kick line land, so I would expect it to again here.

- Man City’s opposition are averaging 18.7 tackles per game this season, and Southampton have managed 20+ in each of the last 5 head to heads with an average of 21.8

- Cancelo is averaging 2.1 shots per game in the Premier League this season and has hit this line in 6 of his last 7 away starts. He also managed 2 shots in the reverse fixture.

Combining these three selections gives us an attractive 9/2 treble, which I believe can at least go close Saturday evening.

Profit and loss // -1.5 Points