Manchester City back on track with fortuitous win over Southampton

Southampton 1-3 Manchester City

Manchester City kept their title hopes alive for now, with a comprehensive, if a little fortuitous win over Southampton at St Mary’s.

Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuttl made six changes from the side that lost to West Ham as their high intensity style of play took its toll on his squad. 18 year old Kayne Ramsay made his debut for the club at right back, whilst Mohamed Elyonoussi got his first start under the new manager.

Pep Guardiola gave Sergio Aguero a starting berth alongside Riyah Mahrez and Raheem Sterling, whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko came in at left back for the suspended Fabian Delph, City’s third choice in that position.

It took just 10 minutes for City to take the lead. Matt Targett was caught sleeping and Bernardo Silva put in a delicious outside of the boot pass to the penalty spot, where his namesake David Silva was on hand to plant the ball low into the net.

Manchester City dominated the opening 30 minutes, not giving the home side an inch on the ball, with Mario Lemina caught in possession time after time. Charlie Austin was feeding on scraps for the first 30 minutes, but worked tirelessly in pressing the back line.

Southampton’s efforts were soon rewarded with a sumptuous equaliser. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg caught Zinchenko square with the ball outside the Manchester City area before cutting in on his right and lashing the ball into the roof of the net in a  period where the Saints were beginning to  grow.

Southampton then felt they were denied a stonewall penalty when the struggling Zinchenko shoved James Ward-Prowse in the back, but the referee waved any protests away.

Just a minute later, a catalogue of errors at the back led to Sterling’s cross bouncing off the retreating Ward-Prowse, wrong footing Alex McCarthy in goal who let the ball sneak past his front post via his arm.

Things got worse for the home side as Zinchenko made progress down the left to cross for Sergio Aguero to score and make it 3-1 before the break, McCarthy again questioned as he let the ball sneak under his body from close range.

The second half started with Manchester City attempting to slow the game down at every turn, giving the home side no chance of getting any form of momentum on the ball.

McCarthy attempted to redeem himself with some routine saves as Manchester City grew into the half, knocking at the door for a fourth goal.

Southampton made changes to try and drag themselves back into the game, Shane Long and Jan Valery were introduced, but to no avail. The Saints carved out opportunities via set pieces, but the delivery by Ward-Prowse was lacking.

With just five minutes to go, things went from bad to worse for Hassenhuttl. Influential captain and midfield general Hojbjerg saw a straight red card for a reckless tackle on Fernandinho as his frustrations boiled over, Paul Tierney’s first red card in 30 games as a referee.

Manchester City saw out the final few minutes to the tune of ‘Ole’ from the away fans, as Guardiola got the win he so badly needed, keeping the gap to Liverpool to seven points ahead of the clash between the two sides on Thursday night.

Hassenhuttl will have learned from the performance today, using a number of fringe players gave him an insight into the squad depth and capabilities. Chelsea await for Southampton, another tough fixture and without Hojbjerg, who now faces a three match ban, it’ll be another stern test.