Southampton are coming up against Manchester City on Saturday and, ahead of the clash at St. Mary’s, we’ve taken a look at what happened when the two sides met in the reverse fixture earlier on in the season.
Southampton came into this match after a 3-1 win against Burnley and were full of confidence, whereas the Sky Blues were looking to get back to winning ways after a 1-1 draw with Everton and a 2-0 loss to Tottenham, so Southampton probably had the greater confidence in the match at the Ethiad.
City had a chance to score an early goal, as Fernandinho’s cross was just out of the reach of onrushing Raheem Sterling.
Saints had a few chances to score afterwards, after Dusan Tadic’s low shot was comfortably saved by Claudio Bravo and Jordy Clasie hit just over the bar after a pullback from Tadic.
Southampton found their breakthrough in the 27th minute when a misplaced back-pass from John Stones was latched onto by Nathan Redmond, who rounded Bravo and kept his composure to give Saints the lead.
John Stones thought he had instantly redeemed City of his mistake, as a free-kick was whipped in with pace towards the Englishman, but the leap of Sergio Aguero in an offside position disallowed the goal.
Manchester City’s pressure paid off in the second half, as a long ball from Fernandinho found the feet of Leroy Sane, who squared the ball to Kelechi Iheanacho, and the substitute slotted the ball away from close range.
Later on in the game, Man City kept the pressure high, but Saints had a chance to win the game, as Premier League debutant Sofiane Boufal played the ball to Charlie Austin on the edge of the box, but his powerful shot went straight into the hands of Bravo.
Despite late pressure from City, Saints did well to hold onto their well-earned point at the Etihad.
