Manchester City v Southampton - Head-to-Head

Manchester City welcome Southampton to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon after an explosive goal-scoring week.

The blues followed up their 6-3 hammering of Manchester United last weekend by putting Copenhagen to the sword with a 5-0 home victory that leaves them on the brink of qualification to the knock-out stage with just three games gone.

The blues sit in second place, one point behind leaders Arenal and have hit 29 goals in just eight Premier League games so far this season, with 20 coming at home. By comparison, Southampton have scored just eight league goals, with three of them being scored in away fixtures. On paper, City should win comfortably, but what do the stats say about this fixture?

Blues 18-year unbeaten run

City go into the match on the back of an 18-year unbeaten run that has seen the blues win 11 and draw 2 of their 13 matches in Manchester. Last season’s goalless draw was the first time Saints had prevented City from scoring at home since April 2004, when Southampton earned a 3-1 victory.

That clean sheet was only City’s second during their run, with Saints scoring on every other visit. For some reason, City find it almost impossible to keep a clean sheet. In fact, City have only kept 10 clean sheets in the history of this fixture.

The current run has firmly ended City’s uncertainty in this fixture. In the 12 matches between April 1987 and April 2004, City won just two matches and lost six, and the faithful will be hoping the blues can extend their run against the Premier League strugglers.

There are usually goals...

City have scored 36 goals in their last 18 matches at home to Southampton, which is probably not what Saints fans want to hear. Add on to that the fact that Erling Haaland only has to look at the ball for it to hit the back of the goal could have Saints fans staying at home.

But Southampton have scored in 16 of those matches and scored two on their visit in March 2021. The blues did respond though by putting five of their own in the onion bag.

City have hit six past the Saints on two occasions. The first was in April 1928 when City hammered Southampton 6-1, and had to wait 90 years to repeat the feat. City were 4-1 up at half-time after taking a 3-0 lead after just 18 minutes.

Overall, City have scored 90 goals from 49 matches, while Southampton have bagged 62 in all competitions. There have been two 3-3 draw, both in the 90s, and Saint shave scored two or more goals on 12 occasions. City have hit three goals or more 13 times.

There have only been three goalless draws in the history of these two sides playing in Manchester.

Big wins and longest streaks

City’s biggest win is 6-1, and have also recorded a 5-2 win, while Saint’s biggest victory at City was a 5-1 FA Cup win at Maine Road in January 1960.

City’s 18 match unbeaten run at home to Southampton is the longest between the two sides, while the blues run of six consecutive wins between January 2005 and November 2015 is the longest winning run in this fixture.

Saints longest unbeaten stretch is four matches, with a three-match winning streak achieved between March 2001 and April 2004. This incorporates their win in the last ever match at Maine Road.

Some stats for the superstitious

We know there are some of you are superstitious when it comes to statistics, and we don't have that bad a record against Southampton in October. Just five matches have been played in the tenth month, with City winning two and drawing two, while the last time City lost in October was their first-ever meeting - City lost 4-3 on 16th October 1926.

One point of interest though and this may have you watching the match while peeking between the fingers. On the previous occasions when City and Saints played out a goalless draw, the next time they met ended in a 1-1 draw and a 1-0 defeat.

On the plus side, that must mean we’re due a win after a 0-0 stalemate, right?