Johnny On The Spot: #IMPERIOUS. Pep Guardiola’s assertion back in August that there will be no let up from his record breaking champions continues to be reinforced with each outstanding team performance.
Of all the maulings dished out to date in this Premier League title defence, this dismantling of Southampton will perhaps be the most pleasing to El Gaffer by way of it’s clinical execution. The ever present hard running, desire, telepathic passing and determination were complemented by the type of no nonsense finishing that is sooner or later going to register a double figure scoreline before this season has run its course such was the ferocity of The Blues output.
Ominously for the likes of a bitter Gary Neville the statistics are once again beginning to pile up in The Blues favour. The centurions with the sharpest shooters and the meanest defence are now only one goal shy of a +30 goal difference 11 games into the season and also boast in Kun Aguero one of only 3 strikers to have scored 150 league goals for the same English club.
It can surely only be a matter of time before the brilliant Argentine receives the media plaudits that his wonderful feats deserve. Aguero spearheaded charge after charge against the hapless Saints backline alongside the effervescent Raheem Sterling who was quite simply sensational throughout. Raz is my Man of The Match as City’s crucial run of 4 consecutive home games continues with the arrival of Shakhtar on Wednesday, then Maureen’s Stretfords next Sunday.
On today’s evidence, with City racing into top form with exquisite timing, both those teams are in for a severe test.
The Etihad Stadium
FA Premier League
Referee: Lee Mason of Lancashire
| Manchester City | Southampton | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoedt (6'), Agüero (12'), Silva (18'), Sterling (45'+2, 67'), Sané (90'+1) | Ings (30' pen) | ||||||
| 31 Ederson | 1 Alex McCarthy | ||||||
| 2 Kyle Walker | 2 Cédric Soares | ||||||
| 22 Benjamin Mendy | 5 Jack Stephens | ||||||
| 14 Aymeric Laporte | 6 Wesley Hoedt | ||||||
| 5 John Stones | Kompany 68' | 21 Ryan Bertrand | |||||
| 25 Fernandinho | Delph 79' | 16 James Ward-Prowse | Obafemi 73' | ||||
| 7 Raheem Sterling | 18 Mario Lemina | ||||||
| 10 Sergio Agüero | 23 Pierre Højbjerg | ||||||
| 21 David Silva | Foden 72' | 7 Shane Long | |||||
| 20 Bernardo Silva | 22 Nathan Redmond | Elyounoussi 73' | |||||
| 19 Leroy Sané | 9 Danny Ings | Armstrong 82' | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| 3 Danilo | 3 Maya Yoshida | ||||||
| 4 Vincent Kompany | 4 Jannik Vestergaard | ||||||
| 18 Fabian Delph | 10 Charlie Austin | ||||||
| 26 Riyad Mahrez | 11 Mohammed Elyounoussi | ||||||
| 33 Gabriel Jesus | 17 Stuart Armstrong | ||||||
| 47 Philip Foden | 28 Angus Gunn | ||||||
| 49 Aro Muric | 61 Michael Obafemi | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 18 | Goal attempts | 12 |
| 8 | On Target | 6 |
| 4 | Corners | 4 |
| 14 | Fouls | 9 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 67 | % | 33 |