Can Saints defeat Pep Guardiola’s undefeated Manchester City and recreate their 2-0 heroics?

Can Saints defeat Pep Guardiola’s undefeated Manchester City and recreate their 2-0 heroics?

On the ninth matchday of the Premier League, Southampton will take on Manchester City, who have not lost.
The Saints want to learn from their 2-0 Carabao Cup triumph over Pep Guardiola’s squad the previous season.

Southampton will now focus on playing defending Premier League Champions Manchester City after suffering yet another comeback loss in the Premier League. Even though the two clubs have had somewhat different starts to the season thus far, Southampton’s season may depend on this match.

The 2024–25 Premier League season has started similarly for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who have won the league title four times in a row in the past four seasons. Manchester City is the only Premier League side still undefeated after eight matchdays, albeit trailing league leaders Liverpool by one point.

Can Saints repeat their 2-0 heroics against Pep Guardiola’s unbeaten Manchester City

The defending Champions have one of the greatest squads in Europe’s top five leagues and are once again heavy favourites to win the UEFA Champions League. However, City’s last two league games were a last-minute 2-1 win over Wolves and a thrilling 3-2 victory over Fulham. In both of these games, Pep Guardiola’s team gave up an early lead before rallying in the second half to win.

This is the exact opposite of Russell Martin’s side, who twice gave away their lead to conceded three goals in the second half. Therefore, Southampton can give a good performance against Manchester City, but still need to be more resilient while defending to take an important result from this match. Hence, the Saints should take inspiration from their surprise Carabao Cup 2-0 win over Pep Guardiola’s side last year, under manager Nathan Jones.

Southampton, who were struggling in the Premier League and had recently hired a new manager, put up a tremendous effort to advance to the Cup semi-finals. Southampton took a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo, while centre-back Lyanco led the defence to lay the groundwork for the unforgettable victory.

While manager Nathan Jones and those players have departed the club, Russell Martin’s team can take consistency as one of the most important lessons from that game. Furthermore, the Saints must grab an early 1-0 lead, as Manchester City has conceded a 1-0 lead four times this season, which might boost Southampton’s momentum for the rest of the game.

Russell Martin may use a different defensive formation without fullback Yukinari Sugawara and defensive midfielder Will Smallbone, who are expected to miss the encounter against Manchester City.

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