Premier League holders Manchester City earned a valuable three points on their travels this evening after coming away with a 4-1 win at St. Mary’s Stadium against relegation-threatened Southampton.
With every result from now until the end of the season of the utmost importance given the pace being set at the top of the table by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, City went about their business the best way they knew how; to dominate.
FULL-TIME | Victory on the road! 💪
😇 1-4 🐝 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/UiohLb1wIM
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 8, 2023
From start to finish, Pep Guardiola’s men were dominant overall despite a smattering of moments where Saints could have taken a lead. But then up stepped the dynamic duo of Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne to give the Citizens a deserved 1-0 on the stroke of halftime, with the Belgian midfielder bagging the 100th assist of his Premier League career for the Norwegian’s 29th league goal.
After that, there was only going to be one clear winner on the day, with England star Jack Grealish doubling their advantage thirteen minutes after the half-time interval. Haaland would strike again to bag his brace ten minutes later to extend that advantage to 3-0 for his 30th of the campaign, the first to hit that number since Harry Kane and Mohammed Salah in 2017-18, while putting Rúben Sellés’s Saints to bed.
Gifted French forward Sékou Mara did find a consolation goal four minutes with a lovely finish four minutes later, but it would mean little in the end while City restored their three-goal advantage through a Julián Álvarez penalty three minutes after Mara’s effort, adding a vital three into the goal difference column in the table.
As things stand before Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool at Anfield, City now trails the Gunners by five points but with a superior goal difference, and will be hoping for quite a bit of help from a Reds outfit that has struggled this season under Jürgen Klopp but remains fully capable of finding a result in front of home support.
📰 Table Of Contents
- 1 Southampton Player Ratings
- 2 Manchester City Player Ratings
- 3 Read below for more news
- 3.1 Kevin De Bruyne reaches Premier League milestone in first-half against Southampton
- 3.2 Premier League Player Ratings | Tottenham bank three points against Brighton amid controversy in the capital
- 3.3 Premier League Player Ratings | Wolves secure a vital three-point haul as Chelsea falls to another defeat
Southampton Player Ratings
- GK: Gavin Bazunu – 6.5
- RB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 5.5
- RCB: Jan Bednarek – 6
- LCB: Armel Bella-Kotchap – 5.5
- LB: Kyle Walker-Peters – 5
- DM: James Ward-Prowse – 6.5
- RCM: Roméo Lavia – 6.5
- LCM: Mohamed Elyounoussi – 6
- RW: Theo Walcott – 6
- LW: Kamaldeen Sulemana – 6
- CF: Carlos Alcaraz – 6
- Sub: Stuart Armstrong – 6
- Sub: Sékou Mara – 7
- Sub: Moussa Djenepo – 7
- Sub: Ibrahima Diallo – 6
- Sub: Romain Perraud – 6
Manchester City Player Ratings
- GK: Ederson – 6
- RCB: Manuel Akanji – 6.5
- CB: Rúben Dias – 7
- LCB: Nathan Aké – 6.5
- RDM: John Stones – 6
- LDM: Rodri – 6.5
- RAM: Kevin De Bruyne – 8
- LAM: Ilkay Gündogan – 8
- RW: Riyad Mahrez – 6
- LW: Jack Grealish – 9
- CF: Erling Haaland – 8.5
- Sub: Bernardo Silva – 6.5
- Sub: Kyle Walker – 6
- Sub: Julián Álvarez – 7
- Sub: Sergio Gómez – 6
- Sub: Kalvin Phillips – 6
