In a thrilling match, Manchester City escaped with a 2-1 home win against Southampton after trailing for much of the day.
It did not come easily, but Manchester City did their best impersonation of title rivals Liverpool by snatching victory from a losing position.
City claimed their first league win when trailing at half-time for the first time in the last two seasons after falling behind in the 13th minute from James Ward-Prowse.
Ederson spilled an effort on goal which was promptly turned in from the former Southampton academy product, who turned 25 yesterday (he shares a birthday with yours truly!). From that point, the Saints put serious numbers behind the ball, defending valiantly to enter the break with the lead as City failed to record a shot on target.
Overall, the performance from the home side lacked quality, but Southampton’s defense showed real heart for much of the day. In the 70th minute, however, Kyle Walker stepped up to record a brilliant assist for Sergio Agüero before going on to score the winner in the 86th minute in a Man of the Match performance.
While it was a frustrating afternoon for manager Pep Guardiola’s men, the fact that they were able to escape with all three points proved massive heading into next Sunday’s clash with leaders Liverpool. City almost gained a massive edge on their title rivals, with Liverpool trailing away to Aston Villa for nearly the entirety of the day before snatching two late goals to claim victory (as per usual).
Much of the afternoon was reminiscent of the defeat to Wolves earlier this season, where the Blues poured on wave after wave of attacks but failed to create any real chances. Southampton posed little to no threat on the counter-attack, and their resistance was eventually broken.
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City are far from their best heading into a crucial week, as a victory against Atalanta will seal the Blues’ progression to the Champions League knockout stage for the seventh consecutive season. Then, the Citizens will head to Anfield for the biggest match in English football so far this season.
Today’s match at the Etihad was far from an ideal performance, but the result was encouraging. City will need to gain momentum away in Italy before a game that will go a long way in deciding if they can return the Premier League title for a third consecutive season.