Champions Manchester City provided the perfect response to their recent defeats with a 3-1 victory against Southampton at St Mary's.
All the goals came in the first half with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg cancelling out David Silva's opener before an own goal and Sergio Aguero finished the game off in the first 45 minutes to set City up perfectly for their huge game with Liverpool on Thursday.
Pep Guardiola's side came flying out of the traps, obviously eager to make a statement after back-to-back defeats against Crystal Palace and Leicester had seen them slip ten points behind leaders Liverpool before kick-off on Sunday.
After a couple of close calls, David Silva put City ahead after ten minutes but a few more missed chances and some over-playing at the back led to Southampton grabbing an equaliser through Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Saints then had a big shout for a penalty after the skipper had smashed them level, but almost immediately after that City struck twice before half time to effectively kill the game off.
Rahem Sterling's attempted cross from turned into his own net by James Ward-Prowse before Sergio Aguero made it three in first-half stoppage time and that visibly took the wind out of Southampton's sails.
City coasted through the second half and bit for Saints keeper Alex McCarthy they would have won by more than the two goals - while Hojbjerg was shown a straight red card five minutes before the end to compound the home side's misery.
With Fernandinho returning and playing well, it was the perfect way for City to respond to their troubles and get back on form ahead of Thursday's clash with Liverpool at the Etihad - when they'll look to cut the gap down to just four points.
Southampton 1-3 Man City Opta stats
- Manchester City have won five consecutive Premier League games against Southampton for the first time.
- Southampton have lost back to back Premier League home matches for the first time since September 2017 under Mauricio Pellegrino.
- Man City have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last 10 competitive matches – their longest streak since a run of 10 ending in February 2015.
- Man City’s David Silva has scored versus Southampton both home and away in this Premier League season – the sixth time he’s achieved this feat against a single side in the competition (Arsenal 13-14, Newcastle 14-15, Stoke 17-18, Swansea 17-18, WBA 14/15).
- Man City’s Bernardo Silva has been directly involved in 10 goals in 19 Premier League games this season (5 goals, 5 assists), equalling his total in 2017-18 in 35 games (6 goals, 4 assists).
- Southampton's starting XI vs Man City today had an average age of 24 years & 274 days; their youngest in a Premier League match for five years (Dec 2013 vs Newcastle).
- Man City’s Sergio Aguero has scored 50 Premier League goals under Pep Guardiola, 16 more than any other player has for the club under the Spaniard.
- Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is the first Danish player to both score and be sent off in a single Premier League, while he’s the third Saints player to do this after Sadio Mane (v Liverpool in Oct 2015) and Peter Crouch (v Crystal Palace in May 2005).
Follow Sporting Life on social media - find us on Facebook here or tweet @SportingLifeFC
Related football links
Fast Results
Scores
Racecards 
