City close gap on Liverpool to seven points
london — Manchester City bounced back from two consecutive defeats to beat Southampton 3-1 on Sunday and cut the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to seven points before the top two meet on Thursday.
Pep Guardiola’s champions needed to regain their footing after stumbling against Crystal Palace and Leicester, and did so with strikes from David Silva, Sergio Aguero and James Ward-Prowse’s own goal at St. Mary’s.
Charlie Austin should have put Southampton ahead but miscontrolled the ball after being played in on goal and City immediately took advantage, with Bernardo Silva teeing up David Silva to slot home unmarked in the 10th minute.
Alex McCarthy made a good
save to keep out Aguero from pointblank range after good work by Sterling and City were made to pay for their profligacy when PierreEmile Hojbjerg slammed home after robbing Oleksandr Zinchenko.
City regained the lead when Sterling’s cut-back deflected against Ward-Prowse and in after 45 minutes and Aguero headed home another from Zinchenko’s cross in the third minute of firsthalf stoppage time.
McCarthy made good saves to deny Sterling and Mahrez afetr the break, while Aguero hit the crossbar and Hojbjerg was sent off for a rash tackle on Fernandinho.
Defeat left Southampton 17th in the table on 15 points, the same as 18th placed Burnley, who beat West Ham United 2-0 on Sunday.
Liverpool crushed Arsenal 5-1 to move nine points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday but manager Juergen Klopp still would not get involved in any talk of winning the title. The Reds will, however, have an opportunity to take points off City when they play Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad on Thursday in what is the biggest game of the season so far.
In another match, N’Golo Kante showed signs he is growing into his more advanced midfield role with a composed finish that gave Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri has been criticised for moving Kante out of his more familiar position in front of the back four, with Jorginho filling the holding role.
As a result, Kante’s effectiveness this season has been questioned, but the former Leicester City man impressed as he struck the 51st minute match-winner that helped the Blues tighten their grip on fourth by opening up a five-point gap to Arsenal.
Kante followed a perfectly timed run to meet David Luiz’s chipped pass with a clinical finish to cap a dominant display by Sarri’s side against London rivals Palace.