Confirmation of Erling Haaland's return to full training this week came as positive news and Manchester City fans have backed the Norwegian to be in from the off at Southampton this evening.
City travel to St Mary's looking to heap more pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race, who currently sit eight points clear at the top. But Pep Guardiola's side can close that to five, with the Gunners facing Liverpool on Sunday.
In Southampton, they face a side bottom of the table, winless in four and on their third manager of the season - bizarrely, Guardiola will have faced all three come this evening. Former boss Nathan Jones oversaw a shock Carabao Cup win over the Blues earlier this year but there were no such problems in the first league meeting, a 4-0 win at the Etihad.
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Haaland scored the fourth on that day and City fans have backed the 22-year-old to make his return from the start. A groin issue saw the striker withdraw from international duty and then miss the 4-1 win over Liverpool, but supporters believe he is fit enough to feature ahead of Julian Alvarez up top.
The spots on either wing remain unchanged from that victory last weekend, with Jack Grealish set to continue his fine form on the left following a goal and assist against Jurgen Klopp's side while Riyad Mahrez will keep his place on the right.
And normal service continues in central midfield as well, with City fans backing the ever-present trio of Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in the middle. All three have started at least 25 of City's 28 league games this season, the strongest hint that Guardiola has that area of the pitch nailed.
Defensively, there has been far more rotation and Blues have backed Kyle Walker to come in at right-back, following Guardiola's interesting comments admitting the 32-year-old cannot move into central midfield as well as other defenders. John Stones will feel unfortunate to be dropped, given his brilliant display against Liverpool.
The other major change will see Aymeric Laporte start alongside Ruben Dias, with Manuel Akanji on the bench - potentially with one eye on next week's Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.
On the left, Nathan Ake has been backed to continue in front of the consistently brilliant Ederson.
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