Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has “a lot of respect” for Southampton

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

Nothing less than a win would be on their mind, as three points would mean they will be top of the table for at least a day, before leaders Liverpool travel to Arsenal on October 27.

As things stand, City sit in second place with 20 points, one behind the Reds and three ahead of the Gunners.

Southampton, on the other hand, only have one point and sit in 19th place, but Guardiola is taking nothing for granted.

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

“After Champions League matches, I prefer to play against teams that are better in the table because you concentrate more and don’t look at that (playing against a weaker team). But it is what it is.

“They have the courage to play and are brave with the ball. The wolves were down and it was difficult for us to win.”

City came away late in the 95th minute to beat bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 last weekend, but were more convincing when they thrashed Sparta Prague 5-0 in the Champions League in midweek.

That victory is now over and Guardiola’s focus is now back on the league.

His team are enjoying their longest unbeaten run in the Premier League (31) and would like to extend that streak, having won 10 of their last 13 top-flight games for Southampton.

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

Adding to Guardiola’s optimism, it is difficult to imagine Southampton getting a positive result as they have gone 21 league games without a win (D5, L16) and manager Russell Martin is under enormous pressure.

But he also has kind words for his counterpart.

“He will be successful,” Guardiola added.

“When this happens (sticking to principles), you will always succeed, sooner or later. If you start to change your ideas or thoughts a lot regarding your results, the players will notice. They will know that you are not a great believer. When that happens, sooner or later bad results will come.”

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 bench.

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

In the Southampton camp, Ryan Fraser is suspended, while Gavin Bazunu, Ross Stewart, 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 first eight games. The Saints are one of them, along with Ipswich Town, Crystal Palace and Wolves.