We Saint going to worry about our Ed

PEP Guardiola said he is not concerned by Southampton’s revelation that they targeted Ederson in City’s defeat at St Mary’s.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl revealed his team had worked on forcing errors from the Blues defence – and then taking advantage of the fact that the Brazil goalkeeper is often in an advanced position as he sweeps up behind the defence and also joins in the outfield build-up.

That plan worked to perfection when Stuart Armstrong robbed Aleks Zinchenko on halfway, and when the ball broke to Che Adams, he instantly fired the ball over Ederson, who was standing outside his area, for the winner.

Hasenhuttl said: “If you have a goalkeeper like him that is also playing like a libero to build up the game, it is normal he is not always in a perfect position when you win the ball.

“Our goal was to force them into mistakes and if we made one then be clinical and quick.

“It was fantastic that Che in that moment saw that the goalkeeper was far in front of his goal and made a perfect first touch.”

But the calamity, the latest in a series of individual errors by City defenders this season, will not cause Guardiola to revise his style. Asked if Hasenhuttl’s revelation was a cause for concern, Guardiola replied: “No. We use our keeper to build up our play, and play better. He gives us a lot, the (Zinchenko) mistake was the mistake, part of the game but we didn’t lose for that reason.

“We need to improve because it has happened many times this season.”