Saints Southampton

Man City Manchester City

TEAM NEWS

Sergio Aguero is amongst the substitutes but Gabriel Jesus and Aymeric Laporte are not fully fit and have been left out of the matchday squad.

Pep Guardiola has made four changes to the team that started against West Brom, with Kyle Walker, John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Ferran Torres returning to the XI.

Benjamin Mendy, Nathan Ake and Phil Foden drop out along with Jesus, but have all been named as substitutes, which includes Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is back involved after a four-match absence.

CITY: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Sterling, Torres.

SUBS: Carson, Ake, Agüero, Zinchenko, Mendy, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Foden, Nmecha.

SOUTHAMPTON: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Djenepo, Walcott, Adams, Ings.

SUBS: Forster, Stephens, Salisu, Diallo, Armstrong, Redmond, Tella, Long, N’Lundulu.

FORMATION AND SQUAD NOTES

With Jesus absent, having Aguero available as an option off the bench will be a boost for Guardiola.

The Argentine striker missed training due to injury following his cameo appearance against West Bromwich Albion in midweek, but trained on Friday to put himself in contention for this game.

Without a recognised striker, we’ll have to wait until kick-off to see how City set up, but based on previous line-ups, it looks like it could be Guardiola’s tried and trusted 4-3-3.

The back four, with Joao Cancelo at left-back, will be protected by Rodrigo, who will have Ilkay Gundogan and captain Kevin De Bruyne ahead of him in midfield.

Bernardo, Torres and Raheem Sterling have all played as a central striker previously, but based on this season, the Spaniard could adopt that role, with Sterling and Bernardo interchanging on the flanks.

		Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
1		Manchester City Man City	5	5	0	0	13	5	8	15
2		Arsenal Arsenal	5	4	0	1	8	4	4	12
3		Brighton and Hove Albion Brighton	5	3	1	1	16	5	11	10

Where and when?

The game will be played at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton and will kick-off at 3pm on Saturday, 19 December.

For those in the UK, the game is available to watch on Amazon Prime, but you can also keep up to date with all the action via our Matchday Centre here on mancity.com, or on Twitter: @ManCity.

WATCH LIVE ON AMAZON PRIME

For viewers outside of the UK, check out our TV listings at the foot of this preview to find out how you can tune in, wherever you are in the world.

WE’RE NOT REALLY HERE

If you are after a more City-centric view to proceedings, then our very own We’re Not Really Here matchday show could well be the thing for you.

With expert analysis before the match, at half time and following the full-time whistle for half an hour, the show is available to watch on all digital platforms.

We’re Not Really Here will also have player reaction and, time permitting, the post match thoughts of Pep Guardiola.

Saturday’s show will kick-off at 2pm (UK), with an hour of build-up, interviews and chat leading up to the match.

David James and Shaun Goater will join presenters Natalie Paweleck and  CityTV’s Kyle Walker.

Pep Guardiola: Praise for Saints midfield duo

“They have an exceptional manager. I know him a little bit from my time in Germany. He was at many clubs. Leipzig played in a specific style.

“He has experience at the back and one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, Romeu. They have James Ward-Prowse, an incredible player in set pieces. Southampton, for many many years, have been working well, so no surprise. But it is a challenge and we will see what happens.”

Read more from Guardiola.

Ralph Hasenhuttl: We will need a ‘fantastic game’ to beat City

“I think we play against a fantastic team, in possession one of the best teams in the world. I think there are different ways to play against such teams but in the end, it is a lot about investing more than the opponent.

“Definitely you need a fantastic game and a fantastic day and it’s a pity that we don’t have more time to prepare for the game, because for this game normally you should have a little bit more time to train on the pitch, to work on a few things, on a few automatisms.”

Form guide

City are ninth in the Premier League, with 20 points from 12 games and eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who have played one game more than us.

We are currently on a seven-match unbeaten run in all competitions and, during that period, we have conceded just one goal.

Our opponents sit third in the Premier League table, four points behind leaders Liverpool. They drew 1-1 with Arsenal on Wednesday evening.

Last meeting

Our last trip to St Mary’s in July ended in a 1-0 defeat, with Che Adams scoring the only goal of the game. 

Before that, we had won seven consecutive games against the Saints.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Mike Dean

Assistants: Ian Hussin, Darren Cann

Fourth official: Robert Jones

VAR: Lee Mason

Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes

TV listings

The game will be shown live in the UK on Amazon Prime Video.

Our global TV guide is below: