Sergio Aguero is amongst the substitutes for Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Southampton, but Gabriel Jesus and Aymeric Laporte are not fully fit and have been left out of the matchday squad.

Pep Guardiola has made four changes to the team that started against West Brom, with Kyle Walker, John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Ferran Torres returning.

Watch Southampton v city on amazon prime video

Benjamin Mendy, Nathan Ake and Phil Foden drop out along with Jesus, but have all been named as substitutes, which includes Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is back involved after a four-match absence.

With Jesus absent, having Aguero available as an option off the bench will be a boost for Guardiola.

The Argentine striker missed training due to injury following his cameo appearance against West Bromwich Albion in midweek, but trained on Friday to put himself in contention for this game.

Teams

CITY: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Sterling, Torres.

SUBS: Carson, Ake, Aguero, Zinchenko, Mendy, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Foden, Nmecha.

SOUTHAMPTON: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Djenepo, Walcott, Adams, Ings.

SUBS: Forster, Stephens, Salisu, Diallo, Armstrong, Redmond, Tella, Long, N’Lundulu.

Formation and squad notes

Without a recognised striker, we’ll have to wait until kick-off to see how City set up, but based on previous line-ups, it looks like it could be Guardiola’s tried and trusted 4-3-3.

The back four, with Joao Cancelo at left-back, will be protected by Rodrigo, who will have Ilkay Gundogan and captain Kevin De Bruyne ahead of him in midfield.

Bernardo, Torres and Raheem Sterling have all played as a central striker previously, but based on this season, the Spaniard could adopt that role, with Sterling and Bernardo interchanging on the flanks.

Stats and facts

  • City have won seven of the last eight meetings between the two sides, though the only time we have dropped points was the the 1-0 defeat in July.
  • We could draw three consecutive league fixtures for the first time since a period between March and April 2017.
  • We have won our last 11 away league games which kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday.
  • Sergio Aguero has been involved in 10 goals in his last 10 Premier League matches against Southampton, scoring six and assisting four.
  • Southampton have only lost one of their past 11 league games, winning seven of those fixtures.
  • Southampton have scored at least twice in each of their last seven Premier League home games, scoring 16 goals in total.