Premier League - Southampton VS Manchester City: Blue Moon restores its character as a top-level team, Premier League runner-up

There is no suspense about De Bruyne's contract expires this summer. De Bruyne, who is only 33 years old, naturally will not retire, nor does he want to go to Saudi Arabia or the American League, and is still expected to stay in the five major leagues.

Manchester City have already begun to find a successor to De Bruyne. The young German midfielder Werz in Leverkusen is the most suitable candidate, but he faces competition from Bayern and Real Madrid.

This season, Manchester City's bleak record in the Premier League and Champions League double-line matches, which is related to De Bruyne's frequent injuries and serious decline in form. In addition, the sudden reimbursement of the main midfielder Rodri due to injury caught Guardiola off guard. In the winter window, new players such as Marmush were introduced. After some adjustments to the lineup and tactics, they gradually returned to the level of a top-class team in the Premier League.

If you only look at the results after 2025, Guardiola's team can compete for the top scorer in the Premier League and the Champions League.

At the end of the season, Manchester City's qualifying for the Champions League is basically not very suspense, and winning the FA Cup is basically easy to win. There is still hope of competing for the runner-up of the Premier League. For a team in the reconstruction process, such results are not bad.

Southampton vs Manchester City

Nature of the match: Premier League round 36

Match time: May 10 22:00

Southampton is also a veteran club in England, but its strength is limited and the champion in the team history is only a FA Cup championship trophy won in the 1975-76 season. Southampton, nicknamed "Saints", has many stars in the team history, but it has long been selling stars at high prices to maintain operations, so it naturally lacks continuous competitiveness.

The competition in the Premier League today is extremely fierce. If you don’t invest heavily in strengthening the lineup from the Championship, it will be difficult to gain a foothold in the Premier League. Southampton and the other two newly promoted teams are the same.

In the 2023-24 season, Leicester City and Ipswich advanced to the Premier League with the results of the English Championship and the runner-up, while Southampton, ranked fourth, successfully defeated West Brom and Leeds United through the playoffs.

In the summer window of 2024, Southampton actually invested a lot of recruits, introducing players such as Harwood Baylis, Ramsdale, and Towns. The transfer fee was 117 million euros and the net investment was 70 million euros. The recruitment investment ranks eighth in the Premier League, higher than strong teams such as Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Arsenal, and Newcastle. But even such investment is not enough to help the team relegate. They are deeply trapped in the relegation zone early, and are relegated early, locking in the position of deputy squad leader in advance. After 35 rounds, Southampton had 2 wins, 5 draws and 28 losses, with only 11 points.

Manchester City has 19 wins, 7 draws, 9 losses and 64 points, ranking third in the Premier League standings, 3 points behind second-year Arsenal, 1 point more than fourth-year-old Newcastle and fifth-year Chelsea, and 3 points more than sixth-year-old Nottingham Forest. It is basically OK to ensure the qualification of the Champions League, but if you lose points in the last three rounds, it may not be guaranteed. If you can win completely, you may even win the runner-up.

Southampton has lost 2 draws and 8 losses in the last 10 games.

Manchester City has won 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in the last 10 games, and has won five consecutive victories in the past.

The two sides have faced each other in the last 10 matches, and Southampton is at a disadvantage in 2 wins, 2 draws and 6 losses.

This game is worth looking forward to.