Southampton vs Man City Prediction, Odds & Betting tips 12/01/2023

Southampton vs Man City Prediction: A real challenge for the guests

On Wednesday night, Southampton will host Manchester City at St. Mary's for their EFL Cup quarterfinal matchup, with a spot in the semifinals on the line. While the Citizens fought their way past Liverpool and Chelsea in the previous two rounds, the Saints defeated three lower-league opponents to advance.

Southampton form

Since taking over at bottom-dwelling Southampton in early November, Nathan Jones has yet to make an impression in the Premier League. His new team has lost all four league games while losing 10 goals in the process. The Saints came from behind to defeat Lincoln City and Crystal Palace by 2-1 scores in the EFL Cup and FA Cup, respectively; the latter team was defeated away from home on Saturday. The Welsh manager, however, has had more success grinding out results in cup competitions.

Southampton form

Even James Ward-Prowse will admit that his equalizer at Selhurst Park was meant to be a cross despite his reputation for scoring spectacular free kicks. Nevertheless, that goal gave the Saints a boost as they started to take control of the match. Midway through the second half, Adam Armstrong robbed a sluggish Vicente Guaita and scored the game-winning goal into an empty net. Southampton will play Blackpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup later this month, but they must first return to the EFL Cup as they gear up for the daunting task of facing Manchester City, a team they have only defeated once in their last 15 meetings.

Southampton easily defeated Cambridge United in the first round, 3-0, and then edged Sheffield Wednesday in the second round, 1-1, before defeating Lincoln in the fourth round. The Saints have lost seven of their last eight EFL Cup quarterfinal matches going into Wednesday's match, but they were victorious in their most recent last-eight match, defeating Arsenal 2-0 in 2017 to advance to the final, where they lost to Manchester United.

Man City form

Manchester City began the new year with back-to-back victories over Chelsea in the span of four days after 2022 ended in somewhat underwhelming fashion with a 1-1 draw at home to Everton. Last Thursday's narrow 1-0 victory away in the Premier League was swiftly followed by a commanding 4-0 victory at home in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday. Pep Guardiola's team was able to display their clinical side while goal machine Erling Braut Haaland watched on as a substitute. The Citizens easily defeated the West Londoners to advance into the fourth round, where they will face either Oxford United or Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium later this month. Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden also scored for the Citizens.

Man City form

Guardiola's main objective this season is to pass the Gunners in the Premier League standings, but City, who are attempting to win the EFL Cup for the seventh time in the last ten years, will also be happy with any additional success. The Citizens have only lost two EFL Cup games in their 29 games under Guardiola, both to rival Manchester United. The only other team to defeat Guardiola's group was West Ham United, which defeated the Citizens on penalties in the fourth round of the previous campaign. City has won all eight of their recent EFL Cup quarterfinal matches, including a 3-1 victory at home over Southampton in October 2019, despite this being their only victory in four attempts against the Saints in the competition.

Southampton vs Man City Stats

With 96 games played between the two teams, Manchester City has a strong record against Southampton, winning 38 of those games to Southampton's 32. Southampton will need to be at their best this weekend because they haven't lost in two of their last four Premier League games against Manchester City. Southampton last managed to avoid a loss on both occasions in a single Premier League season when they played Manchester City in 2002–03. Southampton enters the match at the top of the table after winning their last two home matches against Premier League opponents. Southampton's seven-game winning streak in the Premier League at home is the best since 2016.

Southampton vs Man City Stats

Southampton vs Man City Current Odds

Let's take a deeper look at the most recent markets, odds, and probability estimates before Southampton and Manchester City's matchup on Thursday. 

• Handicap Odds: Southampton (0.81) / Man City (1.12)
• 1x2 Odds: Southampton (s12.0) / Draw (6.90) / Man City (1.23)
• Over/Under Goals: Over 2.5 (0.89) | Under 2.5 (0.99)
• Both Teams To Score: Yes (1.97) | No (1.84)

Southampton vs Man City Current Odds

Southampton vs Man City Betting Tips

Man City to win (-1)

We begin our predictions for this game by selecting Man City to triumph with a -1 handicap. In their last five home games, Southampton has suffered three losses, two of which were by more than just one goal. Man City, on the other hand, recently destroyed Chelsea 4-0. Additionally, City has a solid track record when playing Southampton. The combined score of the previous five head-to-head contests is 14-4! Given that, we believe that a price of 5/8 ($1.63) represents a reasonable value.

A few-goals match

We are backing this game to have more goals than 3.5 in the total goals market for our next tip. As we just mentioned, these teams' previous five head-to-head encounters have resulted in 18 goals, for a game average of 3.6 goals with 60% of those five games going over the 3.5 goal threshold. In terms of recent form, City has had three of its last five games have at least four goals, while Southampton has only had one of its last five games go over that 3.5 cutoff.

 Southampton vs Man City Betting tips from Betimate

•    Southampton 1-2 Man City

Manchester City enters this match with the highest level of confidence, thanks to victories over Chelsea and Liverpool, despite the fact that Southampton is not an easy opponent. Therefore, Betimate believes in a victory for the EPL champions.

Southampton vs Man City probable line-ups:

Southampton: Bazunu; Lyanco, Caleta-Car, Salisu; Walker-Peters, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Perraud; Edozie, A. Armstrong; Adams

Man City: Ortega; Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Ake; De Bruyne, Phillips, Gundogan; Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish