Southampton host the Premier League champions Manchester City on the final day of the season at St Mary’s on Sunday knowing that they are all-but safe from relegation.
Saints recorded a crucial 1-0 win against 18th-place Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium to move three points clear of the drop zone, and Huddersfield Town’s draw at Chelsea on Wednesday means that it is now between the south coast outfit and the Welsh club to see who will go down this weekend.
It will take a 10-goal swing for that to happen though as Carlos Carvalhal’s men welcome already-relegated Stoke City to south Wales knowing they have a significantly inferior goal difference, and they will have to hope that as well as dishing out a thrashing themselves, that Pep Guardiola’s side are also on top form.
However, Manolo Gabbiadini’s winner in midweek means that Saints have now taken eight points from the last 12 available to move to within touching distance of survival, and they should be confident of picking up a positive result against the Citizens.
Mark Hughes made two changes from the XI that drew at Everton for the visit to Swansea as Jack Stephens came in for the suspended Maya Yoshida and Nathan Redmond replaced the injured Mario Lemina, and he may be considering making more alterations in what could be the final appearance for the club for some individuals.
Here is how Southampton must line up against Man City, ahead of Alex McCarthy in goal…
While Southampton had their fair share of dodgy defensive moments – especially in the first half –against Swansea on Tuesday night, the three-man defence with two wing-backs has largely worked to their advantage in recent weeks.
With Yoshida suspended Stephens came back into the XI at the Liberty Stadium, and while the latter should keep his spot in the team alongside Wesley Hoedt, who showed he should be regular starter next season following his latest display despite being regularly criticised previously, the Japan international should return in place of Jan Bednarek.
It may well turn out to be Yoshida’s final appearance for the club given he has been linked with a summer exit, while Bertrand may well be in the same boat at left wing-back, with right wing-back Cedric Soares another that could conceivably go.
With Lemina absent because of an injury he picked up at Goodison Park, Hughes decided to revert from a three-man midfield to just Oriol Romeu and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg against Swansea, and they once again looked better in the second half following a tough first 45 minutes – especially in possession.
Because of the quality that City clearly have, the 54-year-old boss should bring Lemina back into the XI on Sunday in order to give the hosts an extra body in the middle of the park, and to try and them have a little more control of possession than they perhaps would have done.
With Lemina coming back in, that means that one of Nathan Redmond or Dusan Tadic drops out of the side, and we are going with the former on this occasion.
Tadic has been in great form in recent weeks – as shown by his brace in their previous match at St Mary’s against Bournemouth – while Redmond made a huge impact from the substitutes’ bench last weekend when he scored, but he struggled to make the same impact from the start against Swansea.
Saints may well have to play a counter-attacking game against Pep Guardiola’s men, and Shane Long will certainly be more suited to that than Charlie Austin will, and should start ahead of a man who will have been disappointed not to get on the score-sheet on Tuesday given the opportunities he had.
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