By Ian King
City’s familiar late season uptick
Manchester City arrive for this match having finally woken up. There’s still the chance of silverware in the FA Cup but it was late enough for a round of ‘might Pep quit?’ think-pieces. Their recent run has pushed them up to third in the Premier League and they’re now chasing down Arsenal for second, with three games to go.
Southampton have won twice since 2 November in all competitions. One of those was against a Championship club, and the other was against Ipswich, who will be one again soon. Last week they lost to Leicester. So, their form isn’t great.
Southampton should get past Derby’s record
It looks like the fight over being the worst top-flight team in the entire history of English football could come down to goal difference. In 1890 Stoke got ten points, but that was under two points for a win and they only played a 22-game season. Stoke won more games that season than Southampton have this, by three to two.
In modern times there was, of course, Derby County in 2007/08. They finished the season on 11 with a goal difference of –69. Nice. Southampton’s is –52 with three to play. Southampton should clear that. They haven’t, however, beaten Manchester City in the League since 2020.
Key Players
There are no key players for Manchester City this week, and this is because it’s more or less all of them. They’ve won their last four games in a row, and they’ve had seven different goalscorers in that time, with goals coming from all over the place. Erling who?
Southampton’s key player is Aaron Ramsdale. It seems likely he’ll have a busy afternoon, though since this is his third relegation from the Premier League in the last six years, he’s presumably getting used to it by now.
Team News
Having been out for five weeks, Erling Haaland might just return for this one. He was on the bench for the Wolves game and even warmed up, but he didn’t end up coming on. Rodri and Nathan Aké are both back in training soon, though they won’t be ready for this one.
Southampton are at full strength – whatever exactly that means – bar Charlie Taylor, who may not play again this season.
Prediction
With City this weekend and Arsenal on the final day of the season, it may only be the fact that Southampton have got the goal-shy Everton in between which makes that seventeen goals they’d need to concede to tie with Derby County as the worst team in the history of top-flight football in this country seem unattainable.
And Manchester City ARE ALIVE. They’ve not been spectacular, but getting so comprehensively beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League seems to have shaken them awake. With Erling Haaland potentially returning on top of the fact that they can produce goals from just about any position regardless, you start to feel fearful for Southampton. 5-0 City. Sorry, Saints.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
