City won the reverse fixture 1-0 and are aiming to keep a clean sheet against Southampton

Manchester City will look to remain on an upward curve when they come up against Southampton in the Premier League at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola’s side have had a turbulent time of things this season but they are showing signs of life heading down the final stretch of the campaign.

In fact, the Citizens made it five wins in succession across all competitions with a narrow 1-0 win over Wolves last Friday night.

That victory coupled with results elsewhere has lifted City up to third spot in the table heading into the final three rounds of top flight fixtures.

Southampton, in contrast, have endured a nightmare season upon their return to the Premier League as they get set for a quickfire return to the second tier.

Last week’s 2-0 loss at Leicester – which brought up one of my bets – means the Saints have still not managed to surpass the lowest-ever Premier League total of 11 set by Derby back in 2007-08.

Man City have held the upper hand in this fixture in recent years, triumphing in 11 of their last 15 Premier League meetings with the Saints, including each of the last three.

As was the case last weekend, Southampton again look set to be without injured duo Albert Gronbaek and Charlie Taylor.

Manchester City are starting to look stronger with their injury issues easing, with only John Stones, Nathan Ake and Rodri ruled out of this weekend’s trip to St Mary’s.

Southampton: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Downes, Ugochukwu, Manning; Fernandes, Sulemana; Stewart.

Man City: Ederson; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Silva, Kovacic; Marmoush, Gundogan, Doku; De Bruyne.