Manchester City might have finally pulled themselves out of the slump, as they managed to return to winning ways after overcoming Hull City by 1-3 last weekend. They will now be hosted by Southampton on Saturday, April 15th, who have managed to piece together 3 consecutive matches without losing, coming off back-to-back victories against West Brom and Crystal Palace.
Southampton (11-12-7) are coming into this match after a hard-fought victory by 1-0 in the home ground of West Brom. Despite the fact that their opponents were better in most statistical categories, Southampton managed to take the lead at the 25th minute and held on till the end. Prior to that they had also defeated Crystal Palace by 1-3 at home, as they are now undefeated in their last 3 matches (2-0-1). They are now sitting at the 9th spot of the Premier League wuth 40 points, and they moved even closer to the 8th placed WEst Brom who have 44, but with two more matches. Southampton have been mediocre at home so far (6-4-4), where they have scored 17 goals against 15 conceded. Overall, they have scored just as many goals as they ahve conceded (37). They will be coming into this match with a filled-up injury sheet, as Austin, McCarthy, Targett and van Dijk are all unavailable due to various injuries, while Boufal and Gabbiadini are still listed as questionable to participate and Romeu is suspended.
On the other hand, Manchester City (18-6-7) finally got out of their slump, as they returned to winning ways with a dominant 1-3 win at home against Hull City. City were actually unable to score at the first half, but even so, they took the lead after their opponents scored an own goal at the 31st minute. After that things got pretty easy, as Aguero and Delph scored two more goals at the opening 20 minutes of the second half, before their opponents scored the consolation goal at the 85th minute for the final 1-3. Manchester City are now sitting at the 4th spot of the Premier League, as they moved out of the top 3 after their 3 match winless streak. They have been excellent on the road (10-5-1), where they have the best road offense with 33 goals, against 20 conceded. However, they have been unable to win any of their last 3 matches on the road (0-2-1), where they conceded a total of 7 goals. Overall, City have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 5 consecutive matches in all competitions, having conceded a total of 9 goals in that span. They will be coming into this match with their usual absences of Gabriel Jesus, Gundogan and Sagna.