Match Report: Manchester City 1-0 Southampton
By Tom Vinall
In one of the four 15:00 BST Premier League games, Manchester City hosted Southampton in the most lopsided game of the weekend. There is not much that needs explaining about City, whilst Southampton are one of four teams yet to win a game in the Premier League season. They catastrophically choked a 2-0 lead at home to Leicester City last weekend, with Jordan Ayew scoring the winner late on.
For this game, Pep Guardiola opted for a line up of; Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic; Savio, Foden, Bernardo, Nunes; Haaland.
Russell Martin in the other dugout chose; Ramsdale; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning; Downes, Lallana; Dibbling, Fernandes; Archer.
Manchester City 1-0 Southampton: As it happened
Having not scored in his previous three Premier League games, it took Haaland just five minutes to find the net here, after an attacking cross from the left hand side.
Staying true to their style under Martin, Southampton had plenty of possession, despite playing at the Etihad. That said, it did take them 45 minutes to register a shot of any kind.
It could, and should, have resulted in a goal. Archer hit the woodwork with a left footed effort in a presentable opportunity for the striker, and the sides went into the break with City one goal to the good.
READ MORE: Man City player ratings vs Southampton
Early on in the second half, Haaland had a shot cleared off the line from a corner, before soon missing a guilt edged opportunity from another set piece situation.
After 63 minutes, the striker missed his best opportunity of them all, shanking his header wide from just yards out.
As the game grew old, the game began to fizzle a bit, with City’s performance going a bit flat. Whilst the score was still 1-0, there was always a chance for Southampton to come away with an unlikely point.
However, they would manage to hold on and get all three pointss. One of those games you just cross off the list and forget ever happened.
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