Ruben Dias drops to bench, Julian Alvarez retains place – Predicted XI: Southampton vs Manchester City (Premier League)

An away trip to the south coast looms for Manchester City, as they take on Southampton in the Premier League this weekend.

Still competing on three fronts, high-flying City look to continue their excellent run of form on Saturday evening, with a staggering seven victories on the spin since their away draw with RB Leipzig back in February.

The home side are quite the contrary in terms of form, with just one win in their last seven, whilst sitting rock bottom of the Premier League table. Southampton boss Ruben Selles will be desperate for a result, as his side fight to retain their place in the top-flight for next season.

Southampton have already hosted Manchester City at St Mary’s Stadium this season, emerging with a shock result in the Carabao Cup back in January, as a lacklustre Guardiola squad were defeated 2-0 and knocked out of the competition.

Despite going through a somewhat rocky patch of the season when the two sides met earlier in the year, Pep Guardiola will certainly be aware of the threat Southampton pose, with defeat in the cup evidence of this fact.

The fixture has a ‘David vs Goliath’ feel to it on paper, with Manchester City heavy favourites going into the match. However, the away side are absolutely flying, arriving into the game off the back of a 4-1 thrashing against Liverpool last Saturday.

Selles will surely remind his players of the 2-0 victory in January, despite not being in charge at the time. Regardless of the previous result, the likelihood is that Southampton will be massively under the cosh for large parts of the game, and will be forced to withstand waves of City pressure and dominance if they are to replicate that result.

It won’t be an easy game for either side, as the home fans will be right behind their team all the way. With that being said, here is the side we predict will be tasked with bringing the three points back to Manchester on Saturday evening.

Predicted XI

Ederson will start in goal.

Since his highly-publicised antics off the field back in March, Kyle Walker has started only one game for Manchester City. However, we expect that to change and see him return to the fray with a start on Saturday.

John Stones is having another fantastic season for City, with the England international massively contributing to the defensive successes for the Blues this season. We expect the England international to partner Manuel Akanji, giving a rest to Ruben Dias ahead of a massive game against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

The vitally versatile Nathan Ake has stepped up to the mark since the departure of Joao Cancelo in January, so we expect him to retain his place on the left of the back four, completing the Manchester City defence.

Perhaps a tad fortunate to stay on the pitch last weekend, Rodrigo has shown some signs of fatigue in recent weeks with the heavy cluster of fixtures, although is unlikely to be afforded a rest in a must-win clash this weekend.

Kevin De Bruyne is in immense form and looks completely immovable in the side at the minute, so we expect him to keep his place in the City midfield.

Club captain Ilkay Gundogan will be determined to lead the team to some silverware this season, and we expect him to keep his place in midfield after his goal against Liverpool last weekend.

Julian Alvarez also found himself on the scoresheet against Liverpool, as well as having an overall excellent display last Saturday. We expect the Argentine to retain his place after proving himself worthy, albeit on the right of a front-three.

It’s bad news for Southampton, as Pep Guardiola confirmed on Friday afternoon that Erling Haaland is back and “ready” this weekend. We expect him to lead the line.

Man of the Match last Saturday, Jack Grealish is in inspired form at the minute, with the England superstar contributing massively to the current momentum carried by Manchester City. We expect him to continue on the left and complete the starting line-up.

Starting XI: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Alvarez, Haaland, Grealish.

Substitutes: Ortega, Lewis, Dias, Laporte, Gomez, Phillips, Bernardo, Palmer, Mahrez.