Southampton v Man City predictions: Slick City should seal wide-margin success

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Southampton v Manchester City in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football & Main Event, 8pm Wednesday

Best bet

Manchester City -1 on handicap
1pt 4-6 BoyleSports

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Team news

Southampton
Valentino Livramento, Armel Bella-Kotchap (both knee), Juan Larios (groin) and Theo Walcott (calf) are sidelined and goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (ankle sprain) needs to be assessed.

Manchester City
Ruben Dias (thigh) is ruled out and Jack Grealish (illness) is a doubt.

Match preview

Manchester City have been successful in their last eight EFL Cup quarter-finals and they should register a comfortable victory over Premier League basement boys Southampton at St Mary's.

The quest for the quadruple always starts with the League Cup and City are odds-on favourites to win the competition, as they have done in four of the past five seasons.

Pep Guardiola has to be mindful of managing resources during a busy period of the campaign but his squad looks in a healthy state and he has the option of recalling Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who were unused substitutes for Sunday's 4-0 success at home to Chelsea in the FA Cup third round.

City have been drawn to face Arsenal in the fourth round of that competition, having come through a pair of heavyweight ties in the EFL Cup, winning 2-0 at home to Chelsea and 3-2 at home against Liverpool.

Southampton away should be a more straightforward assignment but Guardiola is unlikely to take the contest lightly.

Allowances will be made for Saturday's Premier League derby at Manchester United but City are sure to have plenty of quality in the starting line-up and on the bench and they will look to put the tie to bed as quickly as possible.

Southampton's run to the last eight is their best EFL Cup effort since 2016-17 when they finished runners-up to Manchester United.

They have performed better in knockout competitions than in the league this term and produced a spirited display in Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie at Crystal Palace, coming from behind to win 2-1.

However, they are in a perilous position in the Premier League – three points adrift of safety – and must be mindful of preparing properly for Saturday's vital game away to third-bottom Everton.

Manager Nathan Jones has a tricky selection decision as he tries to balance the fitness of players and the desire to avoid a heavy defeat which may undermine the confidence gained from the weekend win at Palace.

Whichever way he goes it will be difficult to play a winning hand against City. Southampton were beaten 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium in October and are on a run of six successive league defeats including home losses to Newcastle (1-4), Brighton (1-3) and Nottingham Forest (0-1).

Staying up is going to take a massive effort and Jones may need the assistance of a few January additions to turn the tide in Southampton's favour.

For the moment, Saints look short in both penalty boxes. They have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last ten games and none of their attacking players look capable of scoring with any regularity.

They will probably show plenty of spirit, as they did in the weekend win at Selhurst Park, but a lack of quality could be ruthlessly exposed by City, who can prevail by at least a two-goal margin.