Nathan Jones has come into a very difficult position at Southampton, made even more difficult by their fans being disappointed with his appointment. Results haven’t helped and they are favourites to go down now with the bookies. They have had a reasonable run of fixtures including a home game against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest but are yet to pick up a point. Whilst the Welshman has said he will pick a strong side here, focus has to stay on the Premier League and their fight to stay up this season. At the back they have struggled and conceded nine goals from 6.88 expected goals in his four games in charge in the league against teams that are considerably weaker than Manchester City. They also lost 4-0 in Manchester in October – a game where they had just five shots and none on target with one corner. Last time the Cityzens were here on the south coast, they beat the Saints 4-1 and managed 19 shots.

Manchester City are one of the best sides in Europe and surely it will not be too long until they finally get their hands on the Champions League. Whilst that is the priority for Guardiola’s men, he will be looking to win every competition possible, and they remain in the hunt for the quadruple for now. They are capable of demolishing every team in the Premier League on their day and they will be looking for a comfortable win here so that they can rotate some of their stars. In their last four league games they have only won two and scored six goals but the data suggests that they have not performed badly, just have struggled to finish their chances at times. They have amassed 10.01 expected goals in that time and conceded just 1.34 in their last three.

Nathan Jones has been criticised for being a negative manager and is likely to sit back and invite pressure which will give the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland plenty of opportunities.

Ilkay Gundogan has become a very important part of this Manchester City attack and he has been overshadowed to an extent by the other stars in their team. His brace against Aston Villa to win them the league title off the bench last season showed just how important he can be to them. He has had 50 shots for club and country this season, 18 of which have been on target.

For the Manchester side, he has started 19 games this season and has had at least one shot in 17 of those. In his last five starts for them, he has had 13 shots and this selection has landed on four of those occasions. He did not play against the Saints in the league fixture this season but across his six other seasons in the Premier League he has started against Southampton eight times. In that time, he has had 18 shots, and this selection has landed five times. This Nathan Jones Southampton side is even more negative than some of the other Saints team he has faced and so should be given more opportunities here.

He was an unused substitute in the game against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon and therefore should start here. Rodri is likely to be given a rest here but Guardiola has said he’s been impressed with Kalvin Phillips’ attitude and has hinted that he will give him his first start here. This will allow Gundogan to push forward alongside Kevin de Bruyne.

John Stones has become a pivotal part of both the Manchester City back four and the England defence. He was given the FA Cup fixture off to rest and should come straight back in here. In his three starts since the return of domestic football he has had 262 passes and this selection has landed twice. He has started as a right back several times this season but from centre back his passing stats are much higher. In seven games, he has attempted 594 passes and this selection has landed four times. At the World Cup he also had 454 passes in just five games for England from the centre of defence.

In the cup on Saturday, Southampton were happy to let Crystal Palace have the ball and the visitors had just 45% possession. The two Palace centre backs, Marc Guehi and Joachim Anderson had 71 and 88 passes respectively. In the league this season, they have averaged 62 and 64 passes per game each, showing that they had more passes against Southampton than they usually would. Nottingham Forest and Lincoln are the only sides that Nathan Jones’ side has had more possession against since he joined the club in November.

Che Adams has committed the most fouls in the league of any Southampton player so far this season with 23 in 14.8 90 minutes. He is often isolated and can get frustrated because of this. In all competitions he has committed 32 fouls in 23 starts and has committed at least one in 13 of his last 14 starts for club and country. Against Manchester City earlier this season he committed two fouls. In fact, he has committed at least one in his last five matches against the Cityzens, amassing eight in that time. He gave away two fouls on each of the last two occasions that Manchester City travelled south to face the Saints in the Premier League.