There is a bonus match in the Premier League on Wednesday evening as the champions in waiting Manchester City look to catch up on their schedule when they entertain the enigmatic Southampton at the Etihad Stadium.
This match should have taken place earlier in the campaign but cup exploits of both put paid to that so they will take it upon themselves to meet on Wednesday as City look to get their march for the title back on track after Sunday’s defeat.
Where to watch
The match will be shown in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels with the build up beginning at 5.30pm and the match kicking off at 6pm.
Manchester City
I would imagine Manchester City will be smarting at the fact that they saw their 21 match winning run ended at the weekend, maybe not because it ended because these things never go on forever, but more the fact who it came to an end against in terms of their rivals Manchester United. Despite that loss I don’t think there is any doubt over who will be champions this season so it will be interesting to see how Pep’s men go about motivating themselves now.
This could be a monster season for Manchester City with them having every chance of the quadruple this term and the fact that they have a healthy advantage in their Champions League tie which ends next week means they can use their whole squad over the upcoming matches. It appears that Pep has managed his men very well and that he has a full complement of players to choose from which is always daunting for an opposition.
Southampton
We all know that this has been a season of ups and downs for Southampton and what it has all meant really is that their campaign now comes down to the FA Cup. Their quarter final is far enough away that they don’t need to be resting players this far out but that is certainly something to watch out for as we get closer to next weekend. They won’t want to go into that quarter final with no form behind them though so it isn’t as though they will tank the matches prior to then.
Southampton ended a long run without a win at the weekend when they beat Sheffield United and although they beat a side who are out of their depth and who were very ordinary on the day, given the run they had been on of eight defeats in nine matches, any win would have been welcomes. They will hope to draw enough confidence to take on the likely champions and give a good account of themselves here.
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Team News
Pep Guardiola is not expected to have any issues with his squad but he might choose to freshen things up which could see Phil Foden and Ferran Torres given starting berths after they missed out at the weekend.
Southampton will be without top scorer Danny Ings for this match. He joins the likes of Oriel Romeu and Theo Walcott on the treatment table which is not ideal for this Saints outfit. Nathan Redmond could partner Che Adams up top.
Betting
Southampton should be buoyed by their win over Sheffield United at the weekend but I’m not going to use that as any strong form guide. What worries me since then is that there will be no Danny Ings here and that is a huge blow against a side who don’t concede many goals and against whom chances are going to come at a premium given how little of the ball Saints are likely to have. That makes me think we should be looking at Man City win markets.
Clearly we’re not going to get rich backing them at 1/6 to win this match but we are at the stage of the season where two goal handicaps don’t really float my boat with winning the overriding aim rather than running up the score. It could be that without Ings the best value is on City to win to nil. If we take out the win over Sheffield United at the weekend, Southampton had lost their last five away games and the only one they scored in was at Newcastle who aren’t a whole lot better than Sheffield United. It was actually five goalless away games in six before Saturday as there was a 0-0 draw at Fulham to start that run so with Saints a little goal shy on the road City winning to nil makes sense to me.
Tips
Back Man City to win to nil for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
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