Manchester City vs. Southampton: Pre-match talking points

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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MARCH 08: Josep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City (R) and Mark Hughes, Manager of Stoke City (L) shake hands during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Stoke City at Etihad Stadium on March 8, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /

This afternoon Southampton face a high-flying Manchester City team in a match which they are being given little-to-no chance of leaving with something.

The game will be one of the hardest of the season for the Saints, with City being absolutely unstoppable when playing at the Etihad Stadium.

Southampton meanwhile are struggling to pick up consistent points at all this campaign, with still only one league win to their name and that came just over two months ago.

But Mark Hughes’ side come into this game against the champions having recorded back-to-back clean sheets in the league for the first time this season – this shows their obvious defensive improvements from the shakier performances we saw at the start of the year.

Furthermore the Saints will be able to select Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg after he missed the Newcastle draw through illness, while City will be without star man Kevin De Bruyne now for six weeks after he suffered another setback.

But what other talking points should be discussed before the 3PM kick-off today?