Pep Guardiola facing two big decisions in bid to end Man City's Southampton anomaly

Manchester City visit the south coast this Saturday in the evening kick-off, hoping to take all three points and remain in pursuit of the Premier League summit.

City haven’t enjoyed much success in their most recent trips to St. Mary’s. January saw Pep Guardiola’s side lose 2-0 to The Saints in the League Cup quarter-final, whilst last season’s league fixture ended in a 1-1 draw.

A key question still without a definitive answer is the presence of Erling Haaland for City on Saturday, though in spite of his absence against Liverpool last weekend, City’s attack was firing on all cylinders.

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Haaland returned to first-team training on Wednesday, but it is still unclear if he is back at full fitness. Regardless of the selection verdict come Saturday, Julian Alvarez has proven that he can be called upon to deliver in front of goal for City.

If the Norwegian does start, we may well see the two forwards feature alongside one another. Alvarez has been praised this season for his all-round attacking ability and incredible work rate off the ball and the World Cup winner delivered on this once again during City's 4-1 thumping of Liverpool.

Whilst attacking options are of course one priority, City must also look at how to deal with Southampton from a defensive perspective. Despite being the Premier League’s joint-lowest scorers this season with just 23 goals, they knocked two past City in January without reply.

The Blues were largely dominant across the 90 minutes, but were somewhat exposed when the Saints broke on the counter-attack. Their first goal came from a brilliant ball into the box, but it could be argued the cross should have been stopped at