Southampton v Manchester City is go …

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Half-time: Southampton 0-1 Manchester City

Peep! The players adjourn to their dressing-rooms for the break with Manchester City leading courtesy of Erling Haaland’s 43rd goal of the season in all competitions. It was created by Kevin De Bruyne, who registered his 100th Premier League assist. The lead is no more than City deserve for all their dominance but Southampton have defended doggedly and will rue a couple of missed chances of their own.

GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Manchester City (Haaland 45)

City lead! It’s a gut-punch for Southampton jusat before half-time as Erling Haaland punishes their profligacy by hanging in the air before heading home a Kevin De Bruyne delivery from six yards out.

43 min: Chance! Romeo Lavia lays a wonderful ball off to Kamaldeen Sulemana in space on the left side of the City penalty area. His cross/shot evades Elyounoussi and rolls wide of the far post. He should have shot himself but didn’t seem confident enough!!!

41 min: Erling Haaland outjumps James Ward-Prowse at the far post and connects well with a DeBruyne delivery from the left. He sends the ball into the side-netting when you’d have bet the farm on him to score.

40 min: Kyle Walker-Peters advances up the inside left at speed with the ball at his feet but is unable to get a cross into the City penalty area,

39 min: John Stones drives a cross into the Southampton penalty area and Bednarek sends the ball out for a corner. Riyad Mahrez’s inswinger is cleared before Ruben Dias can swing his boot.

36 min: Alcaraz is fouled by John Stones, an indiscretion that earns the City defender a yellow card. Free-kick for Saints about 40 yards from the City goal, well right of centre. Nothing comes of it, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles eventually getting the ball and overhitting a cross towards Armel Bella-Kotchap.

33 min: City continue to massively dominate possession as we pass the half-hour mark but Southampton are hungrily chasing any crumbs that fall their way. They’re playing very well against vastly superior opposition and have had the best chance of the game so far in Sulemana’s lightning fast counter-attack.

31 min: Jack Grealish appeals for a penalty as he hits an attempted cross off James Ward-Prowse’s hand, which is dangling by his side. No spot-kick is forthcoming and it would have been most unjust if one had. Still, you never know these days given our old friend the Letter of The Law and the manner in which various officials interpret it.

30 min: Southampton get another ball into the Manchester City penalty area from the left but Sulemana’s delivery is a foot or two behind Mohamed Elyounoussi.

29 min: Erling Haaland’s been having a very quiet game thus far but tries to impose himself by barging through the centre with the ball at his feet. He runs into traffic congestion and loses it.

27 min: Ainsley Maitland-Niles is penalised for a slightly late challenge on Jack Grealish as he dispatched a pass just inside the Southampton half. He helps the City winger back to his feet.

25 min: Boos ring out as play is stopped with Southampton in possession of the ball. Jack Grealish has gone to ground after an airborne collision with Jan Bednarek and referee Robert Jones is obliged to halt play as he might have a head injury. While Grealish did take a knock after landing heavily, he’s fine.

23 min: Walcott shields the ball down by the corner flag, trying to goad Nathan Ake into conceding a corner. He doesn’t but Southampton soon win a throw-in deep in City territory.

Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Updated at 13.09 EDT

22 min: Alcaraz receives treatment for an injury to his achilles but returns to the pitch with a grimace of pain.

20 min: Alcaraz tries to put a cross to the head of Mohamed Elyounoussi on the edge of the six-yard box, but Nathan Ake does enough to put the Norwegian off. This is very encouraging from Southampton, whose fans are hugely enthused with what they’re seeing from their young team.

Updated at 12.52 EDT

18 min: That was a great chance for Southampton but unfortunately they had nobody up in support of Sulemana because there’s nobody in their team with his pace. As I recall, when he signed for Saints much was made of the fact that the men manning the Ligue1 speed guns clocked him as being even quicker than Kylian Mbappe.

16 min: Chance for Southampton! From a corner, Kamaldeen Sulemana steals the ball from De Bruyne and hares upfield at top speed with Nathan Ake in hot pursuit. A serious speed-merchant, the Southampton winger slows down, then accelerates again to move beyond the defender, only for a woefully heavy touch to allow Ederson off his line to clear.

Southampton’s Kamaldeen Sulemana’s touch is too heavy and allows Manchester City’s keeper Ederson (right) to make a save. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Updated at 13.03 EDT

14 min: Grealish plays De Bruyne in behind down the inside left and the Manchester City midfielder wins a corner for his team. De Bruyne’s inswinger is met by Ruben Dias but Gavin Bazunu saves.

13 min: Theo Walcott tries to chase down a Ruben Dias backpass that looks like it might not have the legs to reach Ederson. It does have the legs to reach Ederson, although it does wipe its feet on the way.

11 min: Assorted City players ping the ball hither and yon for fun leaving Southampton’s players chasing shadows. A Riyad Mahrez cross from the right is put out for a corner by Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Nothing comes of the set-piece.

9 min: City will hope to put this game to bed as early as possible ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich on Tuesday but there’s no indication they have one eye on that encounter and might take this one lightly.

8 min: Admittedly early possession stats: Southampton 9%-91% Manchester City.

4 min: Gavin Bazunu makes the first of what could be many saves against his former club, diving to his left to keep out a drive from Jack Grealish, who had been teed up by Riyad Mahrez as Manchester City broke upfield on the counter. City galloped the length of the pitch, opening up their hosts in three or four passes on that occasion.

Manchester City’s Jack Grealish sees this shot saved by Southampton’s keeper Gavin Bazunu. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 13.01 EDT

2 min: Carlos Alcaraz curls a low ball across the face of the Manchester City six-yard box from the right but there’s nobody in a Southampton shirt to connect and finish past Ederson. It’s a decent start from the home side.

2 min: Southampton win an early free-kick following a robust challengeby Manuel Akanji. James Ward- Prowse sends the ball towards the penalty area from deep and John Stones deals with it.

Southampton v Manchester City is go …

1 min: Manchester City get the ball rolling, their players wearing their third kit of luminous yellow and black striped shirts, black shorts and luminous yellow socks. At least they won’t be hard to spot. The players of Southampton wear largely white shirts with a thick red striped down the middle, black shorts and white socks.

Not long now: Led by James Ward-Prowse and Ilkay Gundogan, both sets of players follow referee Robert Jones and his team of match officials out on to the St Mary’s sward and line up for the last of the pre-match niceties. Anything other than an emphatic Manchester City victory seems almost inconceivable but ahead of kick-off some Southampton fans will be daring to dream. The smart money suggests they are about the endure the stuff of their worst nightmares.

An email: “Could you attempt to give us a formation, with Pep changing tactics and formation every weeks,” asks Frederic Levrat. “I would say it is a 3-2-2-3 or a box 3-box-3. Stones, Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne occupying the midfield box.” Frederic, I would no more attempt to second-guess Pep than I would try to catch the wind in a butterfly net but other readers are welcome to try although kick-off is fast approaching.

Updated at 12.22 EDT

Brighton: While I have not yet seen the game, by most if not all accounts, Brighton seem to have fallen victim to one of the most incompetent displays of officiating in Premier League history throughout their 2-1 defeat away at Spurs.

They had two goals chalked off, were denied a stone-wall penalty (an incident I have seen) and had their manager, Roberto Di Zerbi, sent to the stands alongside his opposite number, Cristian Stellini. One Spurs-supporting friend of mine who was present at White Hart Lane texts me to say “I don’t think the VAR machine was working”.

Updated at 12.16 EDT

Today’s Premier League results

Southampton’s record signing Kamaldeen Sulemana, 20, has yet to score for the club since signing from Rennes for £24.5m in January. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Those teams: Ruben Selles makes four changes to the team that lost against West Ham last Sunday. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Carlos Alcaraz and Kamaldeen Sulemana all come into the side, with Romain Peraud, Djue Caleta-Car, Stuart Armstrong and Sekou Mara making way.

Erling Haaland starts for Manchester City, his first appearance for club or country since scoring a hat-trick against Burnley in the FA Cup on 18 March. So impressive against Liverpool last time out, Julian Alvarez makes way in the only change to Pep Guardiola’s line-up from last Saturday.

Southampton v Manchester City line-ups

Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Maitland-Niles, Alcaraz, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Elyounoussi, Walcott, Sulemana.

Subs: McCarthy, Caleta-Car, Onuachu, Perraud, Armstrong, Mara, Djenepo, Edozie, Diallo.

Manchester City: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Stones, Rodri, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish, Haaland.

Subs: Ortega, Walker, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Silva, Gomez, Palmer, Lewis.

Theo Walcott and his teammates meet and greet their fans on a sunny afternoon outside St Mary’s. Photograph: Adam Davy/PASouthampton defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles beams for the cameras as he rocks up for work this afternoon. Photograph: Matt Watson/Southampton FC/Getty ImagesToday’s match officialsRobert Jones leads the team of match officials at St Mary’s this evening. Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty ImagesEarly team news

Southampton are without striker Che Adams and defender Mohammed Salisu, who both remain sidelined after picking up injuries while on international duty with Scotland and Ghana respectively. Armel Bella-Kotchap is a doubt with a shoulder injury sustained during his side’s draw with Southampton, while long term absentees Valentino Livramento and Juan Larios are also unavailable.

Erling Haaland has been decared fit to play after recovering from a groin injury but Phil Foden is out as he convalesces after having his appendix removed. He’s likely to be out for at least a fortnight but otherwise Pep Guardiola has a full squad to choose from.

Erling Haaland is hoping to add to his tally of 43 goals in all competitions this season after recovering from a groin injury. Photograph: Phil Noble/ReutersPremier League: Southampton v Manchester City

Rock bottom of the table and four points (and five goals in the plus column of the ledger) from safety, Southampton could scarcely welcome more daunting opposition to St Mary’s as they try to claw themselves out of the deep trouble in which they find themselves.

Currently playing under their third manager of the season in Alex Telles, Saints have taken just five points from the last 18 available and will do very well indeed to add to that tally against a Manchester City team that sit second behind Arsenal and have won seven consecutive games in all competitions, scoring 27 goals in the process.

While Manchester City won the corresponding fixture at the Etihad Stadium 4-0 what seems a lifetime ago in early October, Southampton subsequently caused quite the seismic shock by knocking Pep Guardiola’s team out of the Carabao Cup in a victory masterminded by Nathan Jones, who has since been fired.

Southampton can certainly take heart from that defeat but one suspects City will arrive at St Mary’s with revenge on their minds and could pile the hurt on their hosts, dealing a hammer blow to their survival hopes in the process. Kick-off on the south coast is at 5.30pm but you’re welcome to join us for team news and build-up in the meantime.

Updated at 11.49 EDT