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Manchester City rivals: Which EPL club poses biggest threat to title push?

By Ben Kupiszewski

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: The Manchester City team line up prior to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Manchester City FC and FC Dynamo Kyiv at the Etihad Stadium on March 15, 2016 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: The Manchester City team line up prior to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Manchester City FC and FC Dynamo Kyiv at the Etihad Stadium on March 15, 2016 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /
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SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 07: Shane Long of Southampton (C) celebrates with Oriol Romeu of Southampton (L) after scoring his sides first goal during the pre-season friendly between Southampton and Athletic Club Bilbao at St Mary’s Stadium on August 7, 2016 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 07: Shane Long of Southampton (C) celebrates with Oriol Romeu of Southampton (L) after scoring his sides first goal during the pre-season friendly between Southampton and Athletic Club Bilbao at St Mary’s Stadium on August 7, 2016 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images) /

10) Southampton

At first glance, it looks like the Saints are fated for disaster. They’ve lost a lot of prime figures with their organization: Ronald Koeman defected to manage Everton, Graziano Pelle is in China, Sadio Mané joined Liverpool for £30 million and Victor Wayama went to Tottenham Hotspur. Plus, Southampton has been slow to invest the money in big-ticket signings from these sales.

Yet, the club seems to do fine each year despite consistently losing valuable commodities. Nathaniel Clyne? Adam Lallana? It doesn’t seem to matter. It trusts its vaunted youth academy and has a dearth of capable veterans at its disposal: Ryan Bertrand, Shane Long, James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic, Ryan McCarthy. The one signing that could dazzle is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, the 20-year-old winger from Bayern Munich, who Pep Guardiola reportedly held in high esteem.

Although Southampton could be lacking in the goal-scoring department, Manchester City must play well against the side in any meeting.

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