English Premier League Odds, Prediction: Southampton vs. Manchester City

Jeremy Perry
July 2, 2020

Manchester City is coming off a confident 4-0 over league champion Liverpool on Thursday. After facing the top team in the English Premier League, they’ll now face one of the worst when they take on Southampton, who is No. 14 in the standings. Man City has mostly been in good form of late but will they get the job done in this spot or will the Saints surprise?

Southhampton Odds and News

Southampton has been a mixed bag of late. They have won two of three but that’s been about the only bright spot we’ve seen from them for a while. The three wins came against Aston Villa, Watford and Norwich City, all of whom are not only lower than them in the standings table but are also vulnerable to relegation. Meanwhile, those are the only three wins the team has in their last nine fixtures. On the more positive side of things, one could say they’ve been competitive since the return as they’ve won two of three. The issue is that the one loss was to Arsenal in a 2-0 result where Southampton didn’t really look that competitive. Eddie Nketiah put Arsenal up in the 20^th minute and they never looked back.

One big concern here is that Southampton is a lousy home team. They are just 4-2-10 at home, which makes them the worst home team in the EPL. They have a -17 goal differential at home – worst in the EPL – and have scored just 16 goals in 16 home games.

Manchester City Odds and News

Man City is locked into the No. 2 spot in the standings table and can’t move up or down. That’s partially what made their outing against Liverpool all the more impressive as they’ve clobbered them 4-0. In fairness, Liverpool didn’t have much on the line either but Man City has been very effective since the return to action. They did have a 2-1 setback against Chelsea but outside of that, they’ve won their other five games since the return. They rolled right through their opponents too as they have outscored them 14-0 in those four wins.

The Sky Blues are the second-best road team in the EPL with a record of 9-1-6 in away games with a +15 road goal differential – the best in the EPL. They lead the league in goals scored while Southampton has allowed more than everyone except for West Ham, Villa and Norwich City. That being the case, I’m expecting a lopsided win for City in this spot.