Premier League, St Mary's Stadium - Southampton 0 Manchester City 3 (Toure 51, Lampard 80, Clichy 88)
Manchester City highlighted the gap between Southampton’s form and league position on paper and the quality of their team with a 3-0 away win at St Mary’s.
Such was their superiority over their hosts, the visitors could have had at least three more goals to add to their tally. An early penalty appeal was incorrectly turned down against Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic was denied by a miraculous block on the line and Aguero failed to round Fraser Forster late on.
The deadlock was broken shortly after half-time by Yaya Toure, who’s shot from outside the box flew past Forster after a slight deflection. Having lost Morgan Schneiderlin to injury at half-time, Southampton failed to close down the Ivorian and paid the price.
Eliaquim Mangala was sent off after 74 minutes following a second yellow card for a clumsy challenge, but Frank Lampard soon made it 2-0 with a similar strike to the opening goal.
Gael Clichy then scored his first Manchester City goal from a pass across the face of Forster’s goal from Aguero, with the Frenchman finally punishing Southampton for their failure throughout the match to protect their flanks when the play was switched.
The win takes City up to second place ahead of Southampton who will need a vast improvement against the big teams to have any chance of holding onto their top four status. Manuel Pellegrini’s side are now six points behind Chelsea after the Blues’ goalless draw on Saturday against Sunderland.
- Source: Eurosports
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