MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola backed Russell Martin to "have success" in an encouraging message of support for the under-pressure boss.

Martin's Saints visit Etihad Stadium on Saturday, where the hosts will be looking to make it 52 home matches in a row unbeaten in 90 minutes.

Saints sit second-bottom but Guardiola, whose side are one point off Liverpool at the top, warned his players about complacency. 

Martin is under pressure externally with only one boss ever picking up fewer points than his one from their first eight matches in the Premier League.

Guardiola has urged the 38-year-old to stick with his high-possession principles ahead of their first-ever meeting, amid criticism from pundits.

"They will have success, when this happens you always have success sooner or later," said Guardiola, speaking ahead of the clash. 

Russell Martin is still hunting his first Premier League winRussell Martin is still hunting his first Premier League win (Image: PA)

"If you start to change your ideas or your thoughts, I’m not saying just to adjust something like five or four at the back, the players will notice.

"They will know you are not a big believer. Sooner or later, the results are coming. We almost had a bad result at Wolves and look what happened.

"We struggled to win. Southampton have had good moments, I saw games against Brentford and against United, the first hour against Leicester.

"These starts were really, really good. They have good moments and they have courage to play. And they have a keeper like Ramsdale.

"Always after a Champions League game, I prefer to play against teams better in the table because you are focused. The big mistake we can do is watch the table."

Above Martin’s desk at Staplewood there is a Guardiola quote which reads: “When we win, the game model seems good and is not questioned.

"But bear in mind, we won’t always win. Then doubts will come. That is the moment when we will have to trust the model more than ever because the temptation to move away from it will be very strong.”

Guardiola added: "It is our job to convince the players that we are in a good way and that the reason why we didn’t win is this reason or this reason.

"We will fix it and then come back. It is impossible to convince the players if you try to show them something you don’t believe in yourself.

"Their plan is there and they will try to do it. It is hard to adapt to the Premier League in the beginning but I have a lot of respect for the teams who come out of the Championship.

"We complain about the amount of games in the Premier League and the Championship is even worse and if they come up, they are good.

"I have seen their games and (Southampton) always have moments. They are brave with the ball, without the ball I don’t know what will happen.

"We will have to see if they defend deeper or not. If you make a good process, then they have to defend deep. How long will they stay there, I don’t know."

Guardiola confirmed City are likely to be without injured Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku for the meeting with Saints.