Man City 3-1 Southampton: City end winless run to go back top

Manchester City came through a torrid spell to beat Southampton 3-1 at the Etihad and go back top of the Premier League.

Early goals from Kevin De Bruyne (9) and Fabian Delph (20) seemed to have the points sewn up inside 20 minutes, but Shane Long (49) replied and Saints were close to an equaliser during a long period of dominance.

Aleksandar Kolarov's sweet strike in the 69th minute killed the visitors' momentum though, ending their unbeaten away record and giving City a first win in four games.

And Leicester's 1-1 draw with Manchester United in the Saturday Night Football fixture left City top on goal difference.

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The defensive frailties so ruthlessly exposed by Liverpool were again clear to see in the absence of Vincent Kompany, but a positive result was a riposte of sorts to those again questioning Manuel Pellegrini's position in the wake of successive defeats.

Pellegrini's straight bat would give Geoff Boycott's a run for its money, and the City boss insisted before kick-off it was business as usual at the Etihad despite the latest round of Pep Guardiola rumours.

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If the Chilean prefers his players to talk for him, they spoke pretty eloquently during an opening spell which threatened to overwhelm Southampton.

Time and again the visitors surrendered the ball in dangerous areas, and Maarten Stekelenburg had already denied Raheem Sterling and Kolarov by the time Sterling picked Maya Yoshida's gaping pocket and squared to give De Bruyne a tap-in.

An unusually heavy Sergio Aguero touch meant James Ward-Prowse's blind pass went unpunished, and Saints got another lucky break when the officials failed to spot Steven Davis' arm blocking Fernandinho's goalbound header.

Davis would surely have walked, but as it was City scored from the resulting corner as Delph marked his first City start by finishing De Bruyne's cut-back via a nick off Virgil van Dijk.

Saints then lost skipper Jose Fonte to injury, but a revival began to take root and by the end of the half Willy Caballero had steadied his nerves with saves from Long and Victor Wanyama while watching a Van Dijk strike cannon back off the bar.

Ronald Koeman sent on an extra attacker in Dusan Tadic, and reward came shortly after the break: a quick free-kick caught out Sterling, and when Sadio Mane delivered from the right Long outjumped Martin Demichelis to head a reply.

Demichelis bought a non-existent dummy as a huge chance of an equaliser went begging, Tadic strolling through and attempting a dink that failed to fool Caballero, and a follow-up shot went wide via Fernandinho's outstretched arm.

City were rocking at that point but Kolarov - picked out by De Bruyne - finished through a crowd of players to restore calm, and Pellegrini even had the luxury of sending on David Silva late on for his first appearance in almost two months.

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Paul Merson's Soccer Saturday verdict

"Southampton started so poorly. I mean you go to Man City and you haven't got one of your best players in centre forward Graziano Pelle and they just give away the ball. They'll be kicking themselves because if he plays, they get something out of it."

Player ratings

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Man City: Caballero (7), Sagna (7), Demichelis (5), Otamendi (6), Kolarov (7), Fernandinho (7), Delph (7), Toure (6), Sterling (7), De Bruyne (7), Aguero (5).

Subs used: Bony (5), Fernando (5), Silva (5)

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Southampton: Stekelenburg (7), Yoshida (4), Fonte (5), Van Dijk (7), Bertrand (6), Romeu (6), Davis (6) Ward-Prowse (6), Wanyama (7), Mane (7), Long (7)

Subs used: Caulker (7), Tadic (7), Juanmi (5)

Man of the match: Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)

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