Match Pack: Saints vs Man City

Saints vs Man City

Premier League

St Mary’s Stadium

Saturday 22 January, 5.30pm GMT

Referee: Simon Hooper.

Assistants: Simon Long, Derek Eaton.

Fourth official: Andre Marriner.

VAR: Darren England.

Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick.

Despite a disappointing result at Molineux last weekend, there have been plenty of positives for Saints to take in their opening fixtures of 2022.

An emphatic victory over Brentford as well as progression to the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup mean spirits are still high in the Saints camp.

The league leaders are in fine form, having won their last 12 Premier League outings.

Eleven points clear at the top of the table, Pep Guardiola’s side are looking to claim Premier League titles in consecutive years.

It’s a huge challenge for Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side, but they’ve looked increasingly dangerous against the top teams this season and will be hoping to repeat that on Saturday in front of a home crowd.

Will Smallbone, Tino Livramento and Alex McCarthy remain out for the hosts.

Moi Elyounoussi and Theo Walcott are back in contention after completing their Covid quarantine period.

Liam Delap has returned to training after an injury-plagued first half of the season while Nathan Ake is also back in contention for the visitors.

Cole Palmer and Oleksandr Zinchenko remain absent.

“I'm sure Pep will take this game very seriously even though he has a big lead at the moment in the League with an amazing run of winning games that shows how consistent they are, how good they are, how fantastic the job is what they are doing at the moment.”

To follow.

The Saints captain looks back to his best in recent weeks and will have to extend his impressive form if Saints are to keep the league leaders at bay.

Putting in a man of the match worthy display in City’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea, the England international has flourished back into one of the best forwards in the league at the moment.

Armando Broja 7

Ward-Prowse, Elyounoussi 6

Ché Adams 5

Ward-Prowse, Redmond 5

Kyle Walker-Peters 3

Elyounoussi, A. Armstrong, Tella, Diallo, Romeu 2

Riyad Mahrez 13

Raheem Sterling 9

Bernardo Silva 8

Jesus, Cancelo 8

Phil Foden 6

Mahrez, Gündogan 5

Played: 96

Man City: 38

Draws: 26

Saints: 32

September 2021: Man City 0-1 Saints

March 2021: Man City 5-2 Saints (Ward-Prowse, Adams)

December 2020: Saints 0-1 Man City

July 2020: Saints 1-0 Man City (Adams)

November 2019: Man City 2-1 Saints (Ward-Prowse)

- Southampton striker Armando Broja has scored in his first four home Premier League starts, netting one goal each time. In Premier League history, the only player to score in his first five home starts is Gary Penrice for Queens Park Rangers between September and December 1992.

- Southampton are unbeaten in their last seven home Premier League games (W3 D4), their best unbeaten run at St Mary’s since a run of nine between March and October 2016.

- Southampton are unbeaten in their last seven home Premier League games (W3 D4), their best unbeaten run at St Mary’s since a run of nine between March and October 2016.

Can't make the game? We’ve got you covered! We’ll bring you all of the action from St Mary’s Stadium, as well as a host of behind-the-scenes access.

Check out our interactive match centre at southamptonfc.com, with all of the live in-game updates and free audio commentary of the match, and be sure to follow us on social media for further updates and exclusive content:

-

-

-