It looks to be pride more than anything left to play for for Manchester City in this clash against European football hopefuls Southampton at St Mary’s.
City have a third-place battle to contest with Arsenal in the league but it would be fair to say that the majority around the club are looking more towards next week’s second leg fixture in the Champions League.
The Saints also have their sights set on European competition but they are looking towards next season, still needing to secure a qualification position in 2015-16. With complications arising from the winners of cup competitions managing to take up a second qualification position due to their league finish, it is possible that up to seventh position would be enough for the South Coast club to earn itself a spot.
Key Battle – Shane Long vs City central defensive pairing
Shane Long has been in near career-best form in recent weeks and has featured as a key part of Ronald Koeman’s attacking unit. The Republic of Ireland international has scored twice in his past three matches and assisted four goals in his last four. Showing expertly timed bursts of pace and superb close control on many occasions over the past few games, confidence will be high. Having been utilised more often as a winger under Koeman, Long has operated as an out and out striker in the past few games and would surely continue.
With the cycle of Premier League and Champions League football, it is a little unclear who will be starting as the central defenders for the Citizens. Club captain Vincent Kompany and Nicolás Otamendi started the game midweek against Real Madrid and would seem Manuel Pellegrini’s first choice pairing. Perhaps then those two will be rested and Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis will be the starting centre-backs but maybe this will be too risky of a move given the speed of the opposition up front.
Team News
Koeman has a full complement going into this game though striker Charlie Austin may not yet be fit to return.
Pellegrini has most of his squad to pick from too. David Silva and Yaya Toure could miss through injury but aside from that, any omissions are more likely to be based around conserving them for the second leg of the semi-final clash with Real.
Head-to-Head
It is Manchester’s blue half that just holds the balance of history having won 22 of the 60 previous meetings between the clubs versus the Saints’ 21, with 17 ending as draws.
Previous Meeting
The last matchup between these two sides came back in November at the Etihad, with City winning 3-1 thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph and Aleksandar Kolarov. Long grabbed the goal for the visiting side.
Prediction
With the Manchester club’s focus more on the second leg match against Madrid in the UCL, City may not give this match quite the attention it deserves. The St Mary’s team on the other hand will be giving things its full dedication as it still has plenty left to play for in the league. Ultimately though, such is the class and form of City, they will still manage a few goals in this one and the points could well be split.
Southampton 2 Manchester City 2
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