Southampton v Manchester City: Team news & predictions

The game kicks off at 1730 BST at St Mary's, live on BT Sport 1.

Southampton v Manchester City: Team news

The returns of Manolo Gabbiadini and Steven Davis mean Southampton have a near fully-fit squad for Saturday's Premier League visit of Manchester City.

Manager Claude Puel is yet to decide whether either will start, but their presence in his squad leaves Charlie Austin - close to returning from an injured shoulder - and Virgil van Dijk, who has an injured foot, as his only major absentees.

Beyond those two, only Matt Targett and Alex McCarthy are unavailable due to to hamstring injuries.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is still to decide whether Claudio Bravo or Willy Caballero will play in goal.

Striker Gabriel Jesus (foot) and right-back Bacary Sagna (groin) remain on the sidelines but could be back before the end of the month.

Captain and defender Vincent Kompany is in contention after not being risked against Hull last weekend, but midfielder Ilkay Gundogan (knee) is a long-term absentee. 

Teams

Southampton (from): Forster, Taylor, Cedric, Martina, Pied, Yoshida, Stephens, Caceres, Bertrand, McQueen, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Davis, Clasie, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Boufal, Redmond, Rodriguez, Long, Gabbiadini. 

Manchester City (from): Bravo, Caballero, Navas, Zabaleta, Kompany, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov, Clichy, Toure, Fernando, Fernandinho, Delph, Sane, Sterling, Silva, De Bruyne, Nolito, Aguero, Iheanacho. 

Southampton v Manchester City: Manager quotes

Claude Puel (Southampton)

On Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and the midfielder's relationship with his mentor Pep Guardiola: "Guardiola likes good, technical players, and Pierre's a technical player, intelligent, and there's a good feeling with this player, it's important to have this profile on his team," said the Southampton manager.

"I like this profile also: for me it's the future for Southampton. Of course (he'll become an important player for Southampton). It's a young player, 21. It's very, very young. We forget that he's just this age.

"It's important he continues to improve, develop, and make progress. It's interesting for his first season in the Premier League, with what he can do since the beginning of the season. (After October's 1-1 draw at City) the directors spoke with Guardiola about Pierre. Just about the quality of Pierre."

On reports linking players to other clubs: "After Clasie, Van Dijk, and (Cuco) Martina... It's speculation, because now is not the moment to speak about this: it's all speculation.

"I like Jordy, because he's a good, technical player. I like when he can score like that last time, against West Bromwich. We will see all the players at the end of the season if they are happy or not happy: all this is normal, but for the moment I am happy with Jordy and his attitude."

On facing Manchester City: "(City) like to have the ball, good possession, good play, have good players in attack, but we will have opportunities also. The most important thing for us is to keep the good feeling between ourselves; then we can go up against this team.

"The opportunity to play a great manager is very interesting. He has a good philosophy. It's always technical players, intelligent players. The aesthetic of football is very important for him. He's an example for a lot of trainers, he can win Spanish and German leagues, and in the future England." 

Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)

On Southampton: "I think Southampton are making an exceptional season.

"They have, of course, a good manager and exceptional players in all positions. They have very good midfielders, all the strikers are so fast, they play the wingers inside - and all of them have good quality. The full-backs are guys who go up and down.

"They are a really, really good team. I was really impressed when they came here at the beginning of the season. Of course in that moment we came back from Barcelona, had played a lot of games in that period and we were tired. But of course they are a good team. It's a really good test for us."

On Vincent Kompany: "He can do that, hopefully, in the next period, in the future. He can do that. But after the game against Chelsea he reacted to that, had problems with the leg, and we didn't want to take a risk.

"Of course the good news was he could play 90 minutes, a tough game at Stamford Bridge and he played at a high, high level. What we have seen these two or three days (is) he's ready for the next game." 

Asked if Kompany would still be in his plans next season, Guardiola said: "Yes, he has a contract." 

On Alexis Sanchez: "It is not time to talk about that, about the players who are going to stay here, the hypothetical players who are coming here next season. It is not time. We have a lot of (playing) business to do." 

On Joe Hart: "At the end of the season we are going to speak about the players who are under contract next year and for the loan players." 

Southampton v Manchester City: Our prediction 

1pt Southampton to beat Manchester City at 37/10 - City haven't been too impressive in the last month and this looks a big price for a Saints side that can mix it with the best 

Our Nick Hext writes... I’m going with the upset in Saturday’s final Premier League game. 

Southampton have home advantage against Manchester City and I like the look of Saints at close to 4/1 to spring a surprise. 

Star striker Manolo Gabbiadini’s comeback is definitely a boost for Southampton and the return of the ever-dependable Steven Davis to the midfield is a further fillip for boss Claude Puel. 

Saints have won back-to-back matches - 3-1 against Crystal Palace at St Mary’s and 1-0 away to West Brom - to consolidate their position in the top half and they’ve done well to bounce back from the 3-2 defeat against Manchester United in the EFL Cup final, a match that could so easily have gone the other way. 

Only Tottenham have beaten Southampton in their five Premier League matches since that cruel defeat at Wembley and Puel’s men have produced some decent performances against the top-flight’s big-hitters this season. 

Liverpool were impressively dispatched in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and it was a fantastic display from Saints in the 1-1 draw against City at the Etihad Stadium back in October. 

Southampton had the better of things in that contest, with goalscorer Nathan Redmond in particular showcasing the talent that has seen him rightly included in the England squad. 

City were in the midst of a six-match winless run when drawing that game and that sequence was one of the tougher moments to date during Pep Guardiola’s first season in English football. 

The recent form from City though hasn’t been too spectacular either. 

A hard-working 3-1 win at home to Hull last time out ended a four-game wait for a victory, although those matches were all against very tough opposition in Monaco, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. 

The results still prove that City are some way off challenging for the title and Southampton are in my view a much better side than Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Bournemouth, West Ham and Crystal Palace, who have been swatted aside for the last five away wins for Guardiola’s side. 

The price for the home win makes appeal. I don’t think Saints’ chances of success are as unlikely as the bookies reckon so it’s worth a small stake to get with the hosts at St Mary’s.   

Prediction: Southampton 2-1 Manchester City 

Southampton v Manchester City: Opta facts

Southampton have picked up just one win from their last seven games against the Blues in the Premier League (D2 L4), although that did come in this fixture last season (4-2). 

City last failed to score in a game against Southampton back in October 2004, having netted in all 11 meetings in all competitions since. 

Saints are unbeaten in their last two Premier League meetings with City (W1 D1), while they have only twice previously gone three without defeat against them in the competition (January 1996 and May 2003). 

Against teams he has faced at least twice in the Premier League, only against Everton (312) does Sergio Aguero have a worse mins/goal ratio than he does against Southampton (264). 

Sergio Aguero has scored in 11 successive Premier League appearances in the month of April (14 goals). He's scored in all three Premier League games in April 2017 so far and is currently on a run of scoring in four successive league appearances overall. 

Should Manchester City win this match, they'll equal their total number of Premier League wins in 2015-16 under Manuel Pellegrini (19). o Dusan Tadic has had a hand in five goals in his last six Premier League appearances (one goal, four assists). 

David Silva has assisted the most goals (63) and created the most goalscoring chances (598) in the Premier League since he arrived at Manchester City in July 2010. 

Fraser Forster has kept a clean sheet in 30 of his 78 Premier League appearances (38.5%). Since he made his debut in August 2014, of the 18 goalkeepers to have played 50 Premier League games since then, only Petr Cech (41.2%) and Joe Hart (40.8%) have a higher ratio than this. 

Following Andrea Ranocchia's goal for Hull City on MD32, Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has conceded from each of the last seven shots on target he's faced in the Premier League. Since December 31st 2016, Bravo has conceded from nine of the 10 shots on target he's faced.    

Southampton v Manchester City: Sky Bet odds

Manchester City are Sky Bet’s 3/4 favourites for the victory with Southampton up against odds of 100/30, while the draw priced at 14/5. Sergio Aguero heads the first goalscorer betting at 100/30 and is 5/6 to score in a fourth-successive game, while Manolo Gabbiadini’s importance is reflected by his place at the head of the hosts’ side of the market at 13/2 to net first. Despite slipping well of the pace this season, Pep Guardiola’s men have been installed as the 2/1 favourites to win the Premier League title next season, with the Saints given a 150/1 chance.      

Click for Sky Bet's Southampton v Manchester City odds!