Manchester City will look to continue the improvements in their away form when they travel to Southampton for a Premier League fixture at St Mary's on Saturday.

Last month City manager Manuel Pellegrini admitted his team had to resolve their issues on the road if they were to stand a chance of winning the title.

After losing four and drawing one of their six previous away games in the league, Wednesday's 3-2 win at West Bromwich Albion was a step in the right direction.

But, even with Vincent Kompany back after almost two months out with a thigh injury, Pellegrini will still be concerned by City conceding two goals at the Hawthorns.

That made it 12 goals conceded in seven away matches but Kompany's return is sure to add some stability at the back for Pellegrini.

Kompany claims City have changed their 'away' mindset and an upturn in their results beyond the club's Eastlands base will be critical during a few key weeks.

After the trip to St Mary's they head to Bayern Munich, although both sides have already qualified for the Champions League knockout phase.

Following a home game with leaders Arsenal, City travel to Leicester in the League Cup and head to Fulham before Christmas.

"The games keep ticking away," said Kompany. "If we beat Southampton we've got a lot of things in our hands again. That's the mission and everyone knows it.

"It hasn't been a mental block. We're trying to have the attitude now that every game is a home game, irrespective of which part of the world we're in.

"This league is very hard and we're taking it step by step. There are a lot of games to go before we can compare ourselves to the team that won the league."

Pellegrini has been forced to field five different centre-backs -- who are from five different countries -- in the Premier League this season, using a host of combinations.

Kompany insisted there were no language issues.

"I don't even know what language I speak on the pitch anymore. Football is a universal language and you just know, all of the defenders talk and when you talk it makes you better and makes the other players better as well."

Defender Matija Nastasic is set to be out for another two weeks with a calf problem but David Silva and Stevan Jovetic are likely to be available for the trip to Bayern after similar calf injuries.

Southampton's impressive start to the season has come to an abrupt halt, with three successive defeats dropping the south coast club to eighth place.

That has raised fears Saints are beginning to feel the strain although the results don't tell the whole story with Southampton performing well despite losing at Arsenal and Chelsea before Wednesday's home defeat by Aston Villa.

Statistically, Southampton overwhelmed Paul Lambert's side, enjoying 77 percent possession, completing six times as many passes as their opponents and conjuring 21 shots while the visitors scored from their three efforts on target.

That has helped prevent Mauricio Pochettino's team becoming too disheartened at suffering another loss.

"It's not that we're not playing well. We are playing well," said Saints captain Adam Lallana.

"We've got to prepare and get everyone as fit as we can. It is a big month. We've proved we can beat Man City. We did last season, so let's do it again."

Victor Wanyama is struggling to recover from a knock suffered against Villa while fellow midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is expected to miss out with a groin problem.