Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
For the last of the Premier League action on Saturday with travel to the South Coast and Southampton in particular as Claude Puel’s men play host to Manchester City at St Mary’s. Southampton will be looking for all three points to cut the gap on West Brom who currently find themselves in 8th place.
Southampton finishing 8th is still very much in their own hands as they find themselves just 4 points from West Brom and more importantly they have two games in hand. The area of the table from 9th to 16th is so congested with just six points separating the eight clubs in that bracket.
That in itself just shows what a couple of wins can do for the complexion of your season and that is exactly what has happened for The Saints. Last Wednesday they found themselves in 13th place but back to back wins over both Crystal Palace and West Brom have made the outlook a lot brighter all of a sudden.
But by the same virtue a couple of defeats could send you all the way back down again, so The Saints can certainly not afford to rest on their laurels but they are going to have their work cut out as Pep Guardiola brings his all star Manchester City squad to town.
Manchester City made easy work of Hull last weekend with a comfortable 3-1 win at The Etihad Stadium, it should really have been a clean sheet but for another Claudio Bravo blunder. Whether that means Willy Caballero is once again recalled remains to be seen.
But it does once again highlight the issue that City have in regards to their goalkeepers. Bravo has failed to live up to the billing he made for himself at Barcelona, while Caballero is solid but prone to the odd lapse like the one we saw in City’s defeat to Chelsea 10 days ago.
There’s nothing that can be changed between now and the end of the season in regards to goalkeeping personnel but it is certainly going to be an area in which Pep Guardiola will look to improve in the Summer. Whether that means a u-turn on his feelings on Joe Hart remains to be seen.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but would City have been any worse with Hart in goal. The only thing that may stop Hart coming back to the club is Guardiola’s arrogance. He cannot be seen to make a wrong decision so he may have to swallow his pride but then you get the feeling that will not be the case and the England no.1 will once again be persona non grata in Manchester
City currently find themselves fourth as last weekend was a week where very little changed. 6 out of the top 7 won with only Arsenal failing to keep pace with the juggernauts at the top end of the table. Qualification for the Champions League is still very much in their own hands.
They are 4 points clear of United even though Jose Mourinho’s men have a game in hand but also they have a game i hand themselves over Liverpool in third. A win this evening would see City leapfrog Livepool for a day at least as Jurgen Klopp’s men do not play until tomorrow afternoon.
Southampton have the incredible goal difference of 0. They don’t score a lot with just 37 league goals netted but then again they do not give much away either. There was a flurry of goals when Manolo Gabbiadini was fit with the club netting 8 across back to back victories.
And there could be good news for Southampton as Gabbiadini will under go a late fitness test to see if he is ready to return from the groin injury he sustained against Tottenham last month. It’s fair to say Southampton have missed his attacking endeavour but credit must go to his teammates as they have picked up 7 points in his absence.
Can they close the gap to West Brom and make 8th place a realistic hope for the end of the season. They are going to have their work cut out but then again this is a City have only one once in their last five matches. I think it will be tight but I have a feeling Pep’s men will just edge this one. An away win for me.
