Manchester City have had a terrible start to the new football season. In the opening match the defending champion held a duel with Leicester for the first trophy, the FA Super Cup, which lost to the representatives of Leicestershire. Then everything got even worse. The Mancunians lost in the first match of the championship of England, after which Pep Guardiola turned on himself and woke up the team. “Heavenly” had a powerful group stage in the Champions League, where they were ahead of PSG and reached the playoffs. The team successfully started in the national cup, where at the first stage Man City defeated Swindon Town (4:1), after which they knocked out Fulham from the draw (4:1) with the same result. In the current season of the Premier League, the heavenly have recorded 18 wins and three draws after 23 rounds, which brought 57 points, which is nine more than the closest pursuer. It is impossible not to note the best indicator of the team in terms of the quality of defense, which conceded only 14 times. After beating Chelsea (1:0), the Blues drew against Southampton (1:1). Gabriel Jesus, Palmer and Mendy will not be able to play today.
Just four years ago Southampton won the FA League Cup, after which the team is not seen or heard. The start of the FA Cup this year saw a 3:2 win over a tough Swansea side, followed by Ralf Hasenhuettl’s men advancing to the round of 16 by beating modest Coventry City with a score 2:1 in extra time. In the Premier League tournament, the Saints occupy their usual place in the middle of the table. For 22 rounds the “red-whites” have chalked up five wins and 10 draws, which brought 25 points and 12th position. However, the victory in this game will allow the team to rise to the tenth position. In January the Saints opened the calendar year with a 4:1 win over Brentford, followed by a 1:3 loss to Wolverhampton Wolves and a 1:1 split with Manchester City. Lyanko, McCarthy, Tell, Smallbone and Broy, who has a knee injury, will not be able to play today.
