Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Southampton (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City are back in action in the Premier League as newly-promoted Southampton travel to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola’s side have now somewhat sneakily won four consecutive games, scoring 14 goals in that stretch, but the performances have left some fans and pundits questioning if the reigning Premier League champions are still finding their feet.

Despite that, we saw the Etihad outfit at their brilliant best in midweek in a 5-0 thumping of Sparta Prague in the UEFA Champions League. Goals from Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, John Stones, and Matheus Nunes saw City lay down their first emphatic marker of the season.

And Pep Guardiola’s side will be looking for another comfortable win on Saturday afternoon as a Southampton side with no wins in their opening eight Premier League games will take the Etihad pitch, possibly aiming for damage limitation from the off.

Manchester City will be without six of their first-team list for this weekend’s encounter, as both Rodri and Oscar Bobb are ruled out through long-term injuries, with Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne also remaining sidelined despite the latter returning to training.

Additionally, both Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku are ruled out for this weekend, having sustained problems during the 1-2 win over Wolves last Sunday, and in the training session that followed immediately afterwards.

Let’s dig in to how Pep Guardiola might set his Manchester City side up against the south coast outfit at the Etihad Stadium this weekend!

Predicted XI

After Stefan Ortega Moreno played his customary cup role during the week, and following on from an appearance on matchday two of the Champions League, Ederson should reclaim the starting position on Saturday afternoon.

Rico Lewis has excelled against teams sitting deep so far this season, and against a struggling Southampton side, we should see the youngster take up the right-back role once again, perhaps drifting into midfield during possession.

While John Stones has played a key role in Manchester City’s recent success, starting three games in seven days remains a nervy task for the centre-back, and so we could see Pep Guardiola give the nod to his apparent first choice duo, Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias.

Manchester City will be overjoyed to see Nathan Ake return to action against Sparta Prague on Wednesday night, but Josko Gvardiol remains the number one choice on the left defensive flank and will likely take back his starting position.

After taking a seat among the substitutes during the week, in what was a much-deserved rest for the Croatian, Mateo Kovacic should come back into midfield as Rodri’s most reliable replacement.

Ahead of Kovacic, the positions as we know them begin to get blurred, but joining the Croatian in the central areas should be Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, though that duo will drift all over the pitch in a largely free-roaming creative role.

It gets even weirder from there. Matheus Nunes has excelled in the last month, and he may have even played himself into a Premier League start at the weekend, but Pep Guardiola prefers to allocate him out on the left-wing.

On the other flank, Savinho continues to impress, and with Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku both injured for at least until next month, the Brazilian international should get the nod again.

Of course, that leaves us with the ever-present goal machine that is Erling Haaland up top to try and get back among the goals in the Premier League.

Predicted XI: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden; Savinho, Haaland, Nunes.

Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Stones, Ake, Gundogan, O’Reilly, McAtee.