Southampton 0-1 Manchester City: Raheem Sterling scores the winning goal in the first half as City keep another clean sheet | Football news

Manchester City briefly climbed to fifth place in the Premier League with a major 1-0 win at Southampton as Raheem Sterling’s goal in the first half turned out to be the winner.

Sterling’s goal was a classic City move instigated down the right flank by Kevin De Bruyne and finished off by the England forward. De Bruyne has already racked up 15 assists in the Premier League in 2020.

The Saints were bright and bubbly for the most part, but lost a lot of momentum in attack when Danny Ings was replaced with a hamstring injury just before halftime.

Once again, it was far from the swashbuckling City performance we expected under Pep Guardiola, a rather hard-working one who built around defensive unity.

That’s now six clean sheets in their last seven games with the John Stones and Ruben Dias axis continuing to impress as City advanced to the 23-point mark; they then fell to sixth place after Everton beat Arsenal, eight points behind leaders Liverpool. .

How the city did the work …

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints are notorious fast starters and were looking to prevent Manchester City from settling or controlling the ball, with six outfield players at times pushing City to four.

The press made Ederson stretch after 16 minutes, but it was a clever ball that left Southampton exposed at the rear. De Bruyne reveled in the space down the right and Sterling was available to throw his cross pass past Alex McCarthy.

Southampton were looking to strike back before the break with Theo Walcott, who turned the years back with a dynamic performance from the right, a constant threat that provided Che Adams and Ings with plenty of ammunition to feast on.

The best chance fell to Adams from a Walcott cross, but his header from close range deflected off an unsuspecting Stones and spun inches off the post.

Their task was made more difficult after Ings, who has seven goals to his name this season, was forced to retire just before the break.

City came out strong early in the second half and nearly doubled their lead when Ferran Torres ran down the right before firing a cross shot off goal.

Bernardo Silva had another chance after De Bruyne played even cuter down the line, but he lost control and the ball dribbled into McCarthy’s hands.

Southampton were unable to carry their momentum from the end of the first half to the second, despite occupying a space at the edge of the City area.

De Bruyne fired straight at McCarthy as he passed the goal and substitute Riyad Mahrez fired after a great selection from Bernardo when City failed to seal the victory.

It could have resulted in a period of nervous closure, but Guardiola’s team saw the game professionally.

Man of the match: Kevin De Bruyne

A touch more forward than usual with no strikers selected by Guardiola, De Bruyne was the instigator of every promising attack created by the visitors.

When asked to produce the perfect final ball, he found it, providing Sterling with a typically fierce pass that Guardiola will have been relieved to see was actually clinically finished after the stray in front of goal in the draw with West Brom.

No player made more key passes than De Bruyne (4), whose drive, energy and clever passing played a significant role in keeping Southampton at bay in the later stages.

Opt for statistics

• Following their 1-0 win today, no team has conceded fewer goals (12) or kept more clean sheets (6) than Manchester City in the Premier League this season.
• Guardiola has won six of his seven meetings with Ralph Hasenhüttl in all competitions (L1), with the sole exception of Southampton’s victory in this same meeting last season.
• Sterling has been directly involved in 11 goals in 16 Premier League games against Southampton (seven goals and four assists); Only against West Ham (14) has he participated in more goals against an opponent in the competition.
• Since the start of last season, only Mohamed Salah (45) has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than Manchester City’s De Bruyne (42-15 goals, 27 assists).

Whats Next?

Fulham is next for Southampton at Craven Cottage on Boxing Day, a live game Sky sports at 3 pm. City will return to action on Tuesday at the Carabao Cup when they face Arsenal in the quarter-finals before hosting Newcastle in the Premier League on Boxing Day.