Southampton finally fired Mark Hughes early this week after his team threw away  a 2-0 lead before half time at Manchester United. Hughes may have saved them from relegation last season, but he has failed to build on that and leaves the Saints with just two wins from almost 9 months at the helm. The Saints have won just 1 league game all season and they would be handled by Kelvin Davis for this game after the former goalkeeper was named their caretaker manager, we expect Mauricio Pochettino to go all out for the points as they look to recover from their derby day loss to Arsenal. Spurs would be looking to get back to winning ways as soon as possible. The Lilywhites would be without Jan Ventoghen for this game after he was sent off against the Gunners. Toby Alderweireld would be recalled to the starting line up here, however, Juan Foyth struggled to defend against Arsenal and that could be the case here again which would be good news for Southampton’s fans. Totteham have won all but one of their last four meetings with Southampton, all those games have ended with both teams scoring as well.

Southampton needed a miracle to escape relegation last season and after failing to really strengthen their team in the transfer market, they are facing the same struggle here again. They come into this game with a single win all season. They haven’t lost any of their last 6 games, but they haven’t won any of those either as their best results from those games were three draws. They need wins to stay up and this game’s outcome could be the deciding factor in terms of the future of Mark Hughes, so a lot is at stake here. Manchester United haven’t had the best of seasons either and Jose Mourinho takes his men to Saint Marys on the back of so many below-par performances. The Red Devils lost  to Manchester City before the international break and could only play a 0-0 against Crystal Palace in their last league game at Old Trafford. They were also unimpressive in their 1-0 win over Young Boys in midweek and Southampton would feel that they can get a result here too. The last three times these teams have met, just a single goal has been scored and that came in a 1-0 win for the Red Devils in September last year.

Manchester City dominated the Premier League and finished last season with a record 100 points and many expected them to struggle to near that level of performance in this campaign. However, Pep Guardiola’s side have looked even better this time as they are yet to taste defeat in the Premier League. They have lost just one game in all competitions this season. Their 2-2 draw against Lyon in midweek means they have qualified for the Champions League knockout round, and they have also qualified for the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup. Bournemouth have one of the most interesting stories about rising from the verge of administration to a Premier League side in less than 10 years. The Dorset club reached the Premier League 4 seasons ago and they have grown from strength to strength. Eddie Howe’s side started this season brightly and even found themselves inside the top 6 at some point, but a run of successive defeats at the hands of Manchester United, Newcastle and Arsenal has brought them down the league table. The Cherries would be going out to end their recent miserable run here, but that would be one of the hardest task ever against this Manchester City team.