Southampton vs Manchester City. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance2,000.
Saints have clean bill of health; will Sergio Aguero be involved?; follow Southampton vs Man City with our live blog on Sky Sports website and app on Saturday afternoon; watch free match highlights shortly after full-time on Sky Sports' digital platforms and YouTube channel
Friday 18 December 2020 19:33, UK
Team news and stats ahead of Southampton vs Man City in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 3pm.
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has reported no fresh selection concerns ahead of Manchester City's visit on Saturday.
Winger Nathan Redmond came off the bench during the second half of Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Arsenal and is pressing for a recall.
Defender Mohammed Salisu was again an unused substitute as the Ghanaian centre-back closes in on a belated debut following a summer switch from Real Valladolid.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is unsure to what extent striker Sergio Aguero can be involved for City after he suffered a fresh setback this week.
The Argentinian, recently over a knee problem, returned from illness to feature as a substitute in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with West Brom but subsequently missed training on Thursday with an undisclosed issue before returning on Friday.
Guardiola otherwise has no fresh problems, though Eric Garcia and Oleksandr Zinchenko are expected to miss out again.
Follow Southampton vs Man City in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
If I had to choose which club I'd rather pay to watch, then Southampton would be getting my hard-earned over Man City at the moment. It's not often you would pass up the opportunity to bask in the glory of a Pep Guardiola side in full-flow but apart from Kevin De Bruyne, City have failed to get my adrenaline going this season. It's ponderous, it's predictable.
Quite why they only started throwing the kitchen sink at West Brom in injury-time in midweek was pretty baffling - they seem to be playing with the arrogance of a Guardiola side but without the actual substance to back it up. Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling have managed just one goal between them in their last 700 minutes of action combined and a low expected goals figure of 2.84 suggests it's a barren run which is no anomaly.
Maybe Guardiola is thinking that slow and steady is the key to winning this unusual Premier League title race - but City are in danger of becoming tailed off. They could be further behind by full time here.
Any sign of weakness will be seized upon by sprightly Southampton, who have won four of the last five Premier League games at St Mary's. City look short at 4/9 with Sky Bet.
As we mentioned in midweek, Ralph Hasenhuttl's side are notoriously fast starters and have now been ahead in eight of their 13 matches at half-time, scoring 15 goals - no team has scored more. They are 9/4 to score once in the first half. That fast start can lay the foundations for a positive result.
JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-1 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
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