17:31
Important words today from Steve Parish, of Crystal Palace, on the proposed Champions League expansion. Paul MacInnes has more:
17:21
Some stipulations from Richard Hirst:
“As a Fulham supporter I have very specific requirements for tonight’s game:
a) City to win so that
– Man Utd don’t get a sniff of the title
– City are not desperate for three points in their next game against ……. Fulham
But
b) Southampton take them all the way so that City are exhausted and have to rest key players against Fulham ready for their game next week in the Big Cup.
Hope they’re all clear about that.”
I’ve had a word.
17:13
That’s six changes for Saints. They are fielding a lot of specialist centre-backs. One of them, Jack Stephens, looks sure to start in midfield. Will that be a back three from them? I don’t really know, the below is a total guess and I can very much see a world where it’s not.
City make five changes from their derby disappointment. I suspect that’s Foden false-nineing it. You’ve got both Aguero and Jesus on the bench there, Pep!
17:07
Teams
Man City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; Fernandinho, Gündogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Bernardo; Foden. Subs: Steffen, Stones, Sterling, Jesus, Agüero, Rodrigo, Torres, Mendy, Cancelo.
Southampton: McCarthy; Bednarek, Salisu, Vestergaard; Bertrand, Stephens, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong; Djenepo, Adams, Redmond. Subs: Forster, Walker-Peters, Ramsay, Diallo, Ferry, Watts, Tella, Minamino, Nlundulu.
16:55
Hello
Here’s some Wednesday night Premier League football, just before the Wednesday night Champions League football! Lucky us, and this one should be very watchable even if the jeopardy isn’t quite what it might have been before the weekend.
Can City keep their monumental winning run going? Nope, because they were picked off by Manchester United on Sunday. Are Saints about to get sucked into the dogfight? Can’t see it, as they turned up and took three points at Bramall Lane. City remain 11 points clear at the top, so those with an interest in catching them – if that even remains live – would hope to see them drop points today and then effect a collapse of barely-precedented proportions. Again, that won’t happen – but now that Southampton have cleared their heads we ought to see an open, well-contested evening’s work here.
Let’s hope we do! Send your emails, tweets and whatever else over to me – or don’t – and we’ll enjoy this together.