Still on paper the toughest game of the season for Saints and anything gaines here will be a bonus.
There won't be many supporters who put their team down for anything more than a defeat when they visit the Etihad, over recent years City have established themselves as a top club and a trip there is now feared more than a visit to their neighbours Manchester United.
There will some who will point to Liverpool winning their last week, but that probably hasn't helped Saints, City don't usually lose at home in a season twice, let alone twice in a row.
The worry now is that they will come back fighting mad, they will have received the biggest kick up the rear end they will have had in a long time and will come back focused.
That is the negative viewpoints out of the way, so lets look at the positive, they are not a team in form, they are misfiring, they come into this after a defeat in Italy , the rout by Liverpool and a 0-0 draw at Villa, not the best results in the World by a mile and even going back further they were not firing on all cylinders.
Add to that they have their injury issues, including missing goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Saints of course are missing Pelle and Jay Rodriguez, but they have replacements and although it means changing the way we play slightly, it could actually help us rather than hinder.
Liverpool showed what can be done if you run at City and certainly Shane Long up front has more pace than when we play with Pelle, it will give Long the opportunity to close down their back four quickly and stop them playing and then we have Mane to run at them.
The game plan will be to keep it tight and then cath them on the break, OK it still won't be easy but we have to take on the challenge and rise to the occasion.
So can we win ?
I would say our chances are still not great, but we have the ability, we also have the ability to get a draw and that is perhaps a ore likely result.
But if it is defeat then we just have to lick our wounds and look to the next game, this is one game in a season and there is still a long way to go.