Sure Prediction For Today, Saturday 2nd November 2019

Having put Southampton to the sword with a weakened team in a mid-week Carabao Cup clash, Manchester City will be aiming to complete a four-day double over the Saints when they welcome them to the Etihad again on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola chose to dust his City team with some fringe players for Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Southampton, though big guns Raheem Sterling, Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva are expected to be restored to the starting XI for Saturday’s Premier League rematch.

In terms of their overall recent form, City are in great shape. The free-scoring champions responded in typical fashion to their shock 0-2 home reverse to Wolves on October 6^th, winning each of their four fixtures since in all competitions while racking up an aggregate score of 13-2 in the process.

That unexpected setback against Wanderers was, in fact, an anomalous defeat during a 10-game stretch where City won an impressive nine times, and their cup triumph over Southampton on Tuesday was their sixth straight victory against the Saints since 2017.

The goals have also been flowing freely for City this season, and after their mid-week three-goal salvo, the Citizens have now scored over 2.5 goals in 10 of their 15 competitive games since the summer, winning seven of those contests by three or more goals.

The odds look stacked against Southampton ahead of Saturday’s game then, and Ralph Hasenhüttl’s first priority this weekend will be trying to find a way to keep the score down at the Etihad.

Unfortunately for the Austrian manager, his team has shown little of late to suggest they might be able to successfully stem the tide.

Directly before their 3-1 loss at City, Southampton were annihilated 9-0 at home to Leicester in a defeat that equalled the biggest ever recorded in the Premier League, and just two more games prior to that, the Saints shipped four goals against Chelsea.

While their remarkable loss to Leicester noticeably skewers the stats, Southampton still takes the Premier League’s worst defensive record to play the division’s most prolific attack on Saturday. That is undoubtedly a recipe for goals and it’s in the over 3.5 total goals market that we feel the best value lies of this weekend’s contest.

It’s worth noting that over 3.5 goals were scored in three of Southampton’s last four fixtures, including Tuesday’s meeting with City at the Etihad, and we expect their latest encounter to follow suit on Saturday.

In addition, each of the Citizens’ last three meetings with Southampton saw over 3.5 goals scored – in fact, City ran up an aggregate score of 12-3 in a trio of comfortable wins over the Saints.

It’s also interesting to note that Southampton managed to notch a consolation goal in each heavy loss against City, and with City’s defensive troubles at center-half still apparent we think the Saints can repeat that trick on Saturday. With those factors considered, we’re tipping the Citizens to win and our prediction is Over 2.5 Goals.