Alan Smith believes that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola may not be fully focused on City's Premier League clash with Southampton. Just four days after their St Mary's clash, the reigning champions face a huge Champions League quarter-final against Thomas Tuchel's Bayern Munich
Alongside their pursuit of league and European triumphs, City are also in the FA Cup semi-finals and face Sheffield United in a fortnight. Competing in three competitions with just under two months left of the season will certainly test the limits of the talented squad Guardiola has at his disposal.
Depth does not seem an issue for City though, especially with star striker Erling Haaland back available having not played for a month with a groin injury.
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A lack of match fitness could have convinced Guardiola to keep Haaland on the bench with a wandering eye on a huge game next week, but that is not the case. For the evening kick off, the 42-goal forward is back in the starting XI and he is on the only change from the 4-1 victory over Liverpool, replacing Julian Alvarez.
Despite Guardiola's team selection decision to play Haaland showcasing his main focus is getting another three points, Alan Smith believes there could be more focus on Bayern which could in turn hand Arsenal a huge title boost ahead of their Anfield battle with Liverpool.
Smith told Sky Sports: "Obviously, City have got the Champions League, they’ve got Bayern Munich coming to the Etihad on Tuesday so that’s only a couple of days away, and as we know that might be the holy grail for Man City having won the Premier League title several times and Pep Guardiola hasn’t done it at City.
"Will they have half an eye on that? Obviously he can afford to chop and change his squad, he’s got so much quality in depth but that’s a hope for Southampton fans, that they might not have their eye totally on the ball.
"It’s a chance for City to turn the screw, obviously, on Arsenal going up to Anfield for a very difficult game. On paper you’d think this isn’t as difficult - it shouldn’t be - but as we’ve seen so many times in the Premier League you never quite know. Southampton are fighting for their lives and when that happens you can get some strange results."
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