THE KYLE HIGH CLUB
Walker-Peters pops his Prem cherry to end Pep’s win streak
PEP GUARDIOLA’S words – no league title is done and dusted in January – rang loud and true at St Mary’s last night.
Aymeric Laporte’s 64thminute header rescued a point for runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City – but the two dropped throws opens the door at the top.
Well, holds it ajar... but for second-place Liverpool that is as good as they could have hoped for when they line up to play Crystal Palace today.
As it stands, City’s failure to make it 14 league victories on the spin means they are 12 points clear, having played two games more than the Reds.
That might seem a huge gap but Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton, who led through Kyle Walker-Peters superb early goal, proved the reigning champions are not totally unstoppable.
Guardiola (left) insisted pre-match that he was not remotely interested in the length of City’s latest victory blitz or in title talk – his way of keeping his players on their toes for this testing trip.
Sure, City might be cruising at the summit with a big lead but that did not mean it would be plain sailing along the South Coast.
Southampton are one of only three teams this season to have stopped City scoring, courtesy of a goalless draw at the Etihad last September.
And even if last week’s defeat at Wolves had halted a decent return of eight points from 12 over the festivities, they were still a healthy 11 points clear of the relegation pack beforehand.
City’s remarkable ability to find the net pretty much every time they cross the white line is even more impressive when you take into account they play without a recognised striker.
They may not have the “world’s best free-kicker” in James Ward-Prowse – as Guardiola’s described the
Saints skipper on Friday – but they have plenty of other lethal finishers.
Yet they had barely had a touch before they were wishing they had heeded their Spanish gaffer’s words of warning.
Only seven minutes had elapsed when Walker-Peters initiated and finished the move that put City behind and registered his first ever Premier League goal.
He burst forward, fed Nathan Redmond and ran into the box for the return ball. From there he controlled cleverly and used the outside of his right foot to strike a peach past Brazilian keeper Ederson.
If that took City by surprise, they were close to shell-shock midway through the half as Armando Broja cut through their defence to slam in.
However, the on-loan Chelsea hitman’s celebrations were cut short when flagged a yard offside.
That drew a response from City and it defied belief how they did not level proceedings before the break.
Raheem Sterling had blazed over City’s first effort – after 30 minutes – but eight minutes later the England striker surely HAD to score from six yards out… only to fire straight at Fraser Forster.
The pattern – City camped inside the final third – looked set. However, Saints had not read the script.
Jan Bednarek forced Ederson into a sharp stop on 46 minutes, then fired over ten minutes later after Broja’s point-blank header had hit the post.
City were still passing the ball to death, without any cutting edge. The best they mustered before the hour mark was Phil Foden’s angled volley.
Time to shuffle it up. Off came Sterling for Gabriel
Jesus and that did the trick as suddenly the holders were all over the Saints.
The inevitable equaliser arrived on 65 minutes in a manner that will have upset Hasenhuttl (left) – a plain old set-piece.
Kevin De Bruyne swung it in and unmarked, onside central defender Laporte powered in at the far post.
A tension-filled finale ensued.
De Bruyne hit the post, Jesus too, and Mohammed Salisu had to survive a threeminute penalty VAR review after fouling the Belgium star on the edge of the area.