1 year ago
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29 min: Erling Haaland’s been having a very quiet game thus far but tries to impose himself by barging through the centre with the ball at his feet. He runs into traffic congestion and loses it.
27 min: Ainsley Maitland-Niles is penalised for a slightly late challenge on Jack Grealish as he dispatched a pass just inside the Southampton half. He helps the City winger back to his feet.
25 min: Boos ring out as play is stopped with Southampton in possession of the ball. Jack Grealish has gone to ground after an airborne collision with Jan Bednarek and referee Robert Jones is obliged to halt play as he might have a head injury. While Grealish did take a knock after landing heavily, he’s fine.
23 min: Walcott shields the ball down by the corner flag, trying to goad Nathan Ake into conceding a corner. He doesn’t but Southampton soon win a throw-in deep in City territory.
22 min: Alcaraz receives treatment for an injury to his achilles but returns to the pitch with a grimace of pain.
20 min: Alcaraz tries to put a cross to the head of Mohamed Elyounoussi on the edge of the six-yard box, but Nathan Ake does enough to put the Norwegian off. This is very encouraging from Southampton, whose fans are hugely enthused with what they’re seeing from their young team.
18 min: That was a great chance for Southampton but unfortunately they had nobody up in support of Sulemana because there’s nobody in their team with his pace. As I recall, when he signed for Saints much was made of the fact that the men manning the Ligue1 speed guns clocked him as being even quicker than Kylian Mbappe.
16 min: Chance for Southampton! From a corner, Kamaldeen Sulemana steals the ball from De Bruyne and hares upfield at top speed with Nathan Ake in hot pursuit. A serious speed-merchant, the Southampton winger slows down, then accelerates again to move beyond the defender, only for a woefully heavy touch to allow Ederson off his line to clear.
14 min: Grealish plays De Bruyne in behind down the inside left and the Manchester City midfielder wins a corner for his team. De Bruyne’s inswinger is met by Ruben Dias but Gavin Bazunu saves.
13 min: Theo Walcott tries to chase down a Ruben Dias backpass that looks like it might not have the legs to reach Ederson. It does have the legs to reach Ederson, although it does wipe its feet on the way.
11 min: Assorted City players ping the ball hither and yon for fun leaving Southampton’s players chasing shadows. A Riyad Mahrez cross from the right is put out for a corner by Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Nothing comes of the set-piece.
9 min: City will hope to put this game to bed as early as possible ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich on Tuesday but there’s no indication they have one eye on that encounter and might take this one lightly.
8 min: Admittedly early possession stats: Southampton 9%-91% Manchester City.
4 min: Gavin Bazunu makes the first of what could be many saves against his former club, diving to his left to keep out a drive from Jack Grealish, who had been teed up by Riyad Mahrez as Manchester City broke upfield on the counter. City galloped the length of the pitch, opening up their hosts in three or four passes on that occasion.
2 min: Carlos Alcaraz curls a low ball across the face of the Manchester City six-yard box from the right but there’s nobody in a Southampton shirt to connect and finish past Ederson. It’s a decent start from the home side.
2 min: Southampton win an early free-kick following a robust challengeby Manuel Akanji. James Ward- Prowse sends the ball towards the penalty area from deep and John Stones deals with it.
Southampton v Manchester City is go ...
1 min: Manchester City get the ball rolling, their players wearing their third kit of luminous yellow and black striped shirts, black shorts and luminous yellow socks. At least they won’t be hard to spot. The players of Southampton wear largely white shirts with a thick red striped down the middle, black shorts and white socks.
Not long now: Led by James Ward-Prowse and Ilkay Gundogan, both sets of players follow referee Robert Jones and his team of match officials out on to the St Mary’s sward and line up for the last of the pre-match niceties. Anything other than an emphatic Manchester City victory seems almost inconceivable but ahead of kick-off some Southampton fans will be daring to dream. The smart money suggests they are about the endure the stuff of their worst nightmares.
An email: “Could you attempt to give us a formation, with Pep changing tactics and formation every weeks,” asks Frederic Levrat. “I would say it is a 3-2-2-3 or a box 3-box-3. Stones, Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne occupying the midfield box.” Frederic, I would no more attempt to second-guess Pep than I would try to catch the wind in a butterfly net but other readers are welcome to try although kick-off is fast approaching.
Brighton: While I have not yet seen the game, by most if not all accounts, Brighton seem to have fallen victim to one of the most incompetent displays of officiating in Premier League history throughout their 2-1 defeat away at Spurs.
They had two goals chalked off, were denied a stone-wall penalty (an incident I have seen) and had their manager, Roberto Di Zerbi, sent to the stands alongside his opposite number, Cristian Stellini. One Spurs-supporting friend of mine who was present at White Hart Lane texts me to say “I don’t think the VAR machine was working”.
Today's Premier League results
Manchester United 2-0 Everton
Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest
Brentford 1-2 Newcastle United
Fulham 0-1 West Ham
Leicester City 0-1 Bournemouth
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brighton
Wolves 1-0 Chelsea
Southampton v Manchester City
Those teams: Ruben Selles makes four changes to the team that lost against West Ham last Sunday. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Carlos Alcaraz and Kamaldeen Sulemana all come into the side, with Romain Peraud, Djue Caleta-Car, Stuart Armstrong and Sekou Mara making way.
Erling Haaland starts for Manchester City, his first appearance for club or country since scoring a hat-trick against Burnley in the FA Cup on 18 March. So impressive against Liverpool last time out, Julian Alvarez makes way in the only change to Pep Guardiola’s line-up from last Saturday.
Southampton v Manchester City line-ups
Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Maitland-Niles, Alcaraz, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Elyounoussi, Walcott, Sulemana.
Subs: McCarthy, Caleta-Car, Onuachu, Perraud, Armstrong, Mara, Djenepo, Edozie, Diallo.
Manchester City: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Stones, Rodri, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Walker, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Silva, Gomez, Palmer, Lewis.
Today's match officials
Referee: Robert Jones.
Assistants: Ian Hussin and Marc Perry.
Fourth official: Craig Pawson.
VAR: John Brooks.
Early team news
Southampton are without striker Che Adams and defender Mohammed Salisu, who both remain sidelined after picking up injuries while on international duty with Scotland and Ghana respectively. Armel Bella-Kotchap is a doubt with a shoulder injury sustained during his side’s draw with Southampton, while long term absentees Valentino Livramento and Juan Larios are also unavailable.
Erling Haaland has been decared fit to play after recovering from a groin injury but Phil Foden is out as he convalesces after having his appendix removed. He’s likely to be out for at least a fortnight but otherwise Pep Guardiola has a full squad to choose from.
Premier League: Southampton v Manchester City
Rock bottom of the table and four points (and five goals in the plus column of the ledger) from safety, Southampton could scarcely welcome more daunting opposition to St Mary’s as they try to claw themselves out of the deep trouble in which they find themselves.
Currently playing under their third manager of the season in Alex Telles, Saints have taken just five points from the last 18 available and will do very well indeed to add to that tally against a Manchester City team that sit second behind Arsenal and have won seven consecutive games in all competitions, scoring 27 goals in the process.
While Manchester City won the corresponding fixture at the Etihad Stadium 4-0 what seems a lifetime ago in early October, Southampton subsequently caused quite the seismic shock by knocking Pep Guardiola’s team out of the Carabao Cup in a victory masterminded by Nathan Jones, who has since been fired.
Southampton can certainly take heart from that defeat but one suspects City will arrive at St Mary’s with revenge on their minds and could pile the hurt on their hosts, dealing a hammer blow to their survival hopes in the process. Kick-off on the south coast is at 5.30pm but you’re welcome to join us for team news and build-up in the meantime.
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