Game Week 10 Predictions: Another Haaland hattrick against Southampton?

Erling Haaland is primed to storm past Southampton, how many goals will he score? (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

Manchester City vs Southampton

Etihad

3:00pm

Manchester City can usurp Arsenal albeit temporarily provided the Gunners can beat Liverpool on Sunday but the focus right now is the trip of Southampton to Lion’s den.

The champions beat Manchester United last weekend to further establish the fact that they rule the city but the fact they conceded three goals will leave question marks around their defensive spine. The Saints can seek to exploit the gaps in the City defense but who will bell the cat?

Southampton is not in a good place; the Saints are forever going to be mentioned in the relegation conversation and the way they lost to Everton last weekend from a winning position means they can’t expect too much from their trip to the Etihad.

Joe Aribo scored first for Ralph Hassenheutl’s side before the Toffees hit back and left St. Mary’s Stadium with maximum points; Southampton isn’t that team with lots of ambition and you must feel for their manager who has to work with kids and a few loans.

This is the premier league and the margins are too thin for excuses to be tenable; if results don’t improve soon, Hassenheutl could be the next premier league manager to be shown the way out after Scott Parker, Thomas Tuchel, and Bruno Lage were all booted out.

Southampton isn’t known for their strong defense but they can cause some problems on the break which City would be wary of. Aymeric Laporte could be ready to start, Ruben Diaz is expected to return and Gomez could also be called on following Kyle Walker’s injury.

City is expected to win here but by how many goals? The premier league is witnessing the immense numbers of Erling Haaland, another hattrick against Manchester United and you’ll wonder how many more he’d get against the Saints if Guardiola doesn’t rest him.

Verdict: City to run riot.