Manchester City host Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday (23 October) as Pep Guardiola's men look for a Premier League victory in three games. The Citizens have lost to Tottenham and drew against Everton in their last two games and are currently a point behind Arsenal at the top.

Where to watch live

Kick-off is set for 1:30pm BST. Live coverage of the game will be on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 1 HD.

Overview

Manchester City come into the game on the back of a 4-0 thrashing by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, with 'keeper Claudio Bravo sent off for handling the ball outside the penalty box. The Chilean, who transferred from the Catalan club this summer, tried to play the ball out from the back, but passed it straight to Luis Suarez, whose chip was blocked illegally by the 'keeper.

Guardiola is likely to bring back Sergio Aguero to the starting eleven, who was brought in later against Barcelona owing to a tactical shift by the manager. The move led to speculation over the Argentine's future, but the manager was quick to dispel it. City will also be looking to get their spot kicks on line, having missed two against Everton last weekend.

Meanwhile, Southampton have a host of injury worries this weekend following their 1-0 loss to Inter Milan in the Europa League in mid-week. Shane Long is out with a hamstring injury while Matt Targett, Ryan Bertrand and Cedric Soares are doubtful for the fixture.

Pep Guardiola
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

They have lost in their last six visits to the Etihad and new manager Claude Puel will be desperate to make sure that a similar fate does not befall them this time around. Meanwhile, record signing Sofiane Boufal could make his first start against City after coming off the bench against Inter.

What managers say

Pep Guardiola: "No, no, I'm not going to change. First, it's going to happen that if it's not going well in the future, next season isn't going well in that way, I will go home. I won 21 titles in seven years. So it's three titles per year playing in that way. The way we want to play, the way the academy play for a long time, is the way I think is good because, I'm sorry, in the past it was going well until two weeks or three weeks ago."

Claude Puel: "It's difficult to defend against them, because they like to have good possession. I think City are playing a good game and had good style against Barcelona. For me, (there was) no big difference between the two teams. It's difficult with just two days between games. It's important for us to recover and prepare well. City have had more time for recovery, but we must be ready. For us it is important to play our football, and I think we can have a good game at City."

Betting odds (betfair)

  • Manchester City win: 4/9
  • Draw: 10/3
  • Southampton Win: 13/2

Team news

Manchester City

Possible XI: Bravo; Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones, Clichy; Fernandinho, Gundogan; De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling; Aguero.

Southampton

Possible XI: Forster; Cedric, Fonte, Van Dijk, Targett; Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Boufal; Tadic, Redmond, Austin.

Manchester City FC Premier League Southampton FC