Southampton midfielder Steven Davis will be assessed before Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester City.

The Northern Ireland captain has been struggling with a hamstring complaint in recent weeks and manager Ronald Koeman will make a decision when he trains with the group on Saturday.

James Ward-Prowse (foot) and Sam Gallagher (knee) remain two or three weeks away, while Jay Rodriguez continues his rehabilitation from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Meanwhile, Koeman believes "something special" can be achieved at Southampton this season if they can prove their mettle in the coming weeks.

An unparalleled talent drain in the summer led to much doom and gloom around St Mary's, yet the response has been nothing short of astonishing.

Koeman's side are second in the Premier League after their best-ever start to a top-flight season and boast the tightest defence in English football.

That form has led to much discussion as to whether Saints can actually see off the traditional giants and qualify for the Champions League - a feat Koeman believes could become more realistic over the coming weeks.

"We try to play game by game and prepare ourselves in the best way for every game," the Dutchman said.

"We know our possibilities but we have played 12 games now and I didn't see one team better than us in these 12 games and we played against Liverpool and Tottenham. Maybe Sunday but we will see.

"(Man City) will take this game very seriously. They know that we are strong.

"It's one of the qualities is the organisation in the team and if you don't have that organisation it's not possible to concede only six goals in 12 games.

"They know, for sure, they have to be good to win against us and the challenge for us is to beat a good team in the Premier League.

"We have the supporters at our back and that will be important for Sunday."

On stopping in-form City striker Sergio Aguero, Koeman added: "I think that the best player to compare to Aguero is Romario.

"I played with him but sometimes you think he is sleeping and in one split second he is scoring. That's a big quality because that means a lot of concentration for the defender.

"He's always fast, he's always on the shoulder of the last defender and that's his best quality."

Manchester City midfielders Yaya Toure and Fernandinho return to the squad for the champions.

The pair were both suspended for the dramatic victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Playmaker David Silva (knee), striker Edin Dzeko and defender Aleksandar Kolarov (both calf) remain on the sidelines through injury.

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini hopes his side can kick on and build momentum from their stunning defeat of Bayern.

City kept their Champions League hopes alive as Aguero completed a hat-trick with two late goals and snatched a dramatic 3-2 win over the German giants on Tuesday.

City now want to follow that up, not only by securing their place in the last 16 of that competition, but by launching a charge in the Premier League.

The champions' form this term has been patchy and they won just one of their six games in all competitions immediately prior to the mid-November international break.

That set back their title defence but they started to get back on track with victory against Swansea last weekend, although they remain eight points behind league leaders Chelsea.

Pellegrini said: "I think one thing we never lost was the belief. The only thing I think we cannot complain about in this team, in this moment or the last three weeks, was the spirit of the team.

"We always fight to the end. We started losing against Swansea and we scored two goals, we did the same thing against Bayern.

"So I think now we must improve the trust of the team. It grows immediately when you have good results.

"I hope that after these two games, especially the game against Bayern, the way we won it, it will give trust to players to continue doing the right things. I hope we can see that this week."

luvola:


http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/match/395649/southampton-manchester-city/preview

mukina2:
supporting FPL all the way.

Goals for Pelle, Clyne and Yaya

no goal for aguero.

Odunharry:
Let Go Manchester

Odunharry:

where cylne wan pass score