Man City 2-1 Southampton
by James Nalton
at Eastlands

MANCHESTER CITY manager Pep Guardiola put almost as much physical effort into Saturday’s 2-1 win against Southampton as his players.

The Catalan boss was animated on the touchline all afternoon, especially once seeing his side go a goal behind with less than 15 minutes gone. James Ward-Prowse pounced when Ederson spilled Stuart Armstrong’s powerful shot and from then on it was all hands to the pump for the home side.

Guardiola was up and down the touchline collecting loose balls to aid quicker restarts and even confronted Southampton’s coaching staff as they tried to waste time.

City threw everything at the visitors in the second half and eventually equalised through Sergio Aguero with 20 minutes to go.

Gabriel Jesus was brought on to provide an extra threat in a packed Southampton penalty area, but the only players afforded space were City full-backs Angelino and Kyle Walker.

So it was perhaps no surprise that the winner came via this route. Angelino’s cross evaded goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, falling to Walker on the opposite side of the pitch and his finish completed the comeback.

Later in the game, as the ball arrived at his feet with Southampton chasing a late equaliser, Guardiola offered the ball to the opposition bench to see if they were still interested in wasting time.

“I’ve seen him be nicer than today,” Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said of Guardiola.

“But I think the reason was that he was nervous because he wanted to win the game.

“He is a fantastic manager. He could feel they didn’t have any solutions. You can see how much he was celebrating when they scored.

“It makes you feel you have done a lot right because when Pep has no solutions you know you have really done well.”

As City fans filed out of the ground they thought they had gained ground on Liverpool, who were drawing 1-1 at Aston Villa. But a goal from Sadio Mane gave Liverpool the win in the dying seconds, which means City are still six points off the top.

The title challengers meet at Anfield next Sunday and Guardiola looks ready for the fight.