Next Sunday, 30th of November 2014, the super Ronald Koeman’s Southampton will entertain a highly motivated Manchester City at the St. Mary’s Stadium for round 13 of the English Premier League, on what will certainly be the most important match of the weekend between two of the most impressive teams at English football currently.

Last Monday, Southampton failed to overcome a fragile but hard working Aston Villa on what was a somewhat atypical match for several reasons but especially because Villa Park registered its lowest league attendance in 15 years. The Saints have, nevertheless, dominated the entire match passing the ball around with absolute finesse. Ronald Koeman’s boys completed 229 passes more than the Villans and enjoyed from a staggering 61% of ball possession, something remarkable for a team that is playing away from home and for a manager that has only arrived at the team this Summer.

The media have recently labelled Southampton as Ronald Koeman’s “clockwork orange”, a somewhat exaggerated comparison with the Rinus Michels’ team that lifted the Euro 88 trophy almost thirty years ago, but at the same time the recognition of the tremendous job the former Barcelona’s defender has been conducting at the Saints.

Over the week, Koeman claimed that it will be a pleasure to play against a team such as Manchester City and, at the same time, they will be able to display all their quality and the work they have been developing so far. Nevertheless, the Dutch manager highlighted that his team needs to be more accurate in front of the goal than they were at Villa Park last Monday.

For the important clash with the current English champions, the Saints’ manager manager will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of Ward-Prowse, Jay Rodriguez and Davis, all currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Manchester City, the current English Premier League title holders have their motivation levels soaring high after their impressive 3-2 win over Bayern Munich in the middle of the week. At the expenses of the usual suspect, Sergio “Kun” Aguero, who netted in a hat-trick against the German champions, the Citizens claimed an important win and reignited the possibility of granting a place at the next stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Manchester City’s overall performances have, nevertheless, been far from impressive so far this season and it will  be interesting to see if they will be able to overcome a well organized and structured team such as Southampton over the weekend. This being said, and although it is difficult to name any favourites for a match such as this, the Saints have plenty in their favour to claim the three points on the next Sunday’s match.

Southampton

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - DWWWW

Manchester City

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WWDLW

Possible Line-ups

Southampton (4-3-3) - Forster - Clyne - Fonte - Aldewereld - Bertrand - Wanyama - Schneiderlin - Long - Tadic - Mane - Pelle

Manchester City (4-4-2) – Hart - Zabaleta - Kompany - Mangala - Clichy - Fernando - Touré - Nasri - Milner - Jovetic - Aguero

Prediction

Southampton 2 Manchester City 1