City's winning run finally ends at St Mary's

Manchester City’s healthy lead at the top of the Premier League table could be reduced tomorrow after Southampton hang on to a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s.

The Saints took the lead after just seven minutes following a lovely strike by Kyle Walker-Peters. However, City were dominant and certainly should have equalised when Raheem Stirling had a fantastic chance to score from close-range. As much of a good chance as it was, credit should also go to Fraser Forster who did do well to get in the way.

The Citizens dominance continued after the break. Kevin De Bruyne’s 65th-minute freekick found three City players free at the far post and Aymeric Laporte made no mistake.

But Southampton were resolute with Mohammed Salisu particularly impressive. Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team did ride their luck at times though and VAR didn’t intervene on some very close calls during a mad few minutes.

First, there was a possible penalty decision for a possible foul by Salisu on De Bruyne that would have been on the 18-year lard line. It was a difficult call but VAR didn’t rule that a penalty shout be given. Then just seconds after, VAR checked Stuart Armstrong’s foul on Laporte. Although his studs did graze the City player, a yellow card was probably the right call.

City finally drop points for the first time in 13 games and are 12 points ahead of second-placed Liverpool and the Reds could reduce that by half should they win their two games in hand. Meanwhile, Hasenhüttl will be very proud of his team’s committed performance.

A resilient defensive performance from @SouthamptonFC, as shown by @Oracle ✋#SOUMCI pic.twitter.com/qFVF0SqO9X

— Premier League (@premierleague) January 22, 2022