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Manchester City 1-0 Southampton: Another clean sheet

By J.C. Gonzalez

Manchester City's Portuguese defender Ruben Dias (L) embraces Manchester City's English defender John Stones (R) after the final whistle of the English Premier League football match between Southampton and Manchester City at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, southern England on December 19, 2020. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Manchester City's Portuguese defender Ruben Dias (L) embraces Manchester City's English defender John Stones (R) after the final whistle of the English Premier League football match between Southampton and Manchester City at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, southern England on December 19, 2020. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Manchester City sealed their seventh clean sheet in eight matches in a 1-0 win over Southampton at St. Mary’s.

For all of Manchester City’s attacking struggles this season, one thing cannot be questioned: the signing of Rúben Dias and the re-emergence of John Stones have completely reformed this team’s defense. The new City was on full display on the South Coast, as great defending coupled with fluffed chances in attack allowed the team a much-needed 1-0 victory after a poor midweek result against West Bromwich Albion.

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Raheem Sterling got on the end of Kevin De Bruyne’s 100th assist for the club in what turned out to be the winning goal, and from there, the renewed Dias-Stones partnership proved resistant enough to keep out an in-form Southampton team on the road.

In the end, Pep Guardiola and company still have not solved the team’s goalscoring issues that have plagued this season, but in a results-driven business, they got the job done today. After Liverpool’s impressive 7-0 win over Crystal Palace, keeping pace with the leaders was of the utmost importance during a busy festive period.

City have a massive Carabao Cup match against Arsenal next in the quarterfinal before Newcastle United at the weekend back at home at the Etihad Stadium. The Blues have the most impressive defensive record in the league, but sorting the attack appears to be a major problem without a quick fix, and this looks set to continue into the long term with nearly half a season of sample size. In the end, the result came today, but there is still much room for improvement.