Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has ‘a lot of respect’ for Southampton

LONDON – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is clear on what he has to do when his team welcome struggling Southampton to the Etihad for their English Premier League clash on Oct 26.

Nothing less than a victory will be on his mind, as three points would mean they go top of the table for a day at least, before Arsenal host leaders Liverpool on Oct 27.

As it stands, City are second on 20 points, one behind the Reds and three ahead of the Gunners.

Southampton, by contrast, have only one point and are mired in 19th place, but Guardiola is taking nothing for granted.

“Always I have a lot of respect for the teams that were in the Championship (last season) and were promoted. The Championship never ends! It’s even worse than the Premier League (in terms of the number of games),” he said.

“After Champions League games, I prefer to play teams who are better in the table because you focus more and not look at that (playing a weaker team). But it is what it is.

“They have the courage to play and are brave with the ball. Wolves were at the bottom and we struggled to win.”

City left it late to beat bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 with a 95th-minute winner last weekend, but were more convincing when they thrashed Sparta Prague 5-0 in the Champions League in midweek.

Guardiola’s focus is back on the domestic front, where his team are enjoying their longest unbeaten Premier League run (31 games).

They will fancy extending that streak as they have won 10 of their last 14 top-flight fixtures with Southampton.

City are also unbeaten in 12 matches against the Saints at the Etihad, winning 10.

To add to Guardiola’s optimism, it is difficult to see Southampton getting a positive result as they have now gone 21 top-flight games without a win (D5 L16) and manager Russell Martin is under huge pressure.

But Guardiola had kind words for his counterpart.

“He will have success,” the Catalan added. “When this happens (sticking to principles), always you will have success sooner or later.

“If you start to change a lot (of) your ideas or your thoughts with a view towards your results, the players will notice.

“They will know you are not a big believer. When that happens, sooner or later bad results are coming.”

City will be without the injured Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku, who will join Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker on the sidelines.

But they will be boosted by their scoring machine Erling Haaland, who has 10 goals in eight league games.

In the Southampton camp, Ryan Fraser and Jack Stephens are suspended, while Gavin Bazunu, Ross Stewart and William Smallbone are nursing injuries and Yukinari Sugawara is a doubt.

For the first time in Premier League history, four teams have failed to win any of their opening eight games.

The Saints are one of them, alongside Ipswich Town, Crystal Palace and Wolves.

Martin’s men have drawn one and lost seven matches since they were promoted to the top flight this season.

The Southampton boss is not entirely giving up hope against the mighty City, however, and like Guardiola mentioned, is sticking to his principles.

“I have really liked how my players have trained this week,” he said.

“They are such a good group, culturally, in the way they train and the intensity they train with. I think the reaction has been good – now they have to put it on the pitch.”

On City, he added: “You have to accept they are a brilliant team, with a brilliant manager and players.

“The challenge is so exciting for us, this is what we all worked so hard for last season. I think the challenge is to go there and see how brave we can be.”