Southampton v Man City: Premier League football betting preview, free tip & TV

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Southampton v Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.

Where to watch

Live on BBC1, 7pm Sunday

Best bet

Manchester City to win & both teams to score
1pt 9-5 Betway

Team news

Southampton
Jack Stephens and Moussa Djenepo have served their suspensions and are available but Jannik Vestergaard is out with a muscle issue, while the game will come too soon for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Sofiane Boufal and Yan Valery.

Manchester City
Fernandinho is back after serving a two-match suspension and City's only absentee is Sergio Aguero, who is out with a knee injury.

Match preview

Manchester City gave a stark reminder of their incredible attacking talent in Thursday's 4-0 win over Liverpool and should follow that up with victory at Southampton, albeit they might not have their eye entirely on the ball.

Pep Guardiola made it clear after bringing the newly-crowned champions back down to earth with a bump that his main priority now is City's FA Cup and Champions League challenges, and he could well experiment with his side in their remaining Premier League fixtures.

Guardiola has not be afraid to shake things up throughout the course of the season,though and whichever team Guardiola selects, they should still have too much quality for Southampton, who are the most accommodating side in the division.

The Saints have collected the fewest points at home of any Premier League side, winning just four times at St Mary’s all season and even without the added pressure of fans, Arsenal proved too good for Southampton in their most recent outing on home soil.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men also be thinking league points are not quite so important now, having hit the traditional safety mark of 40 with their 3-1 win at Watford last Sunday.

This is a fixture Southampton don’t tend to enjoy. City have won the last seven meetings and surprise home wins have been few and far between with the Saints losing five of the last seven home fixtures they have entered as outsiders.

City should claim victory but there could be a few bumps along the way and the Saints are fancied to get on the scoreboard with the defensive side of the visitors' game still leaving a lot to be desired.

Southampton have scored in 15 of their last 18 competitive matches, thanks in large part to the form of Danny Ings, who has 18 league goals this season, putting him firmly in the mix for the Golden Boot.

Ings netted twice at Watford but his scoring prowess is unlikely to be enough to win the day against a City side who have scored 15 goals in their last five matches.

City have been the best team in the league since football returned and Southampton is just another stop on their way back to the top of the mountain.

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