Southampton 1, Manchester City 1
Aymeric Laporte’s header cancelled out Kyle Walker-Peter’s first ever Premier League goal as Manchester City shared the points at Southampton.
Embed from Getty ImagesSouthampton put in a purposeful performance after taking the lead through Walker-Peters after just 7 minutes but Laporte equalised in the second half with a header.
The assist was provided De Bruyne who, with 80 assists, moved level with David Beckham at 9th in the all-time Premier League assist table.
The result meant that Southampton have shared a point in both their Premier League games this season and City’s 12 game winning run since October came to an end.
Even so, the draw was sufficient to bring up 500 Premier League points for City boss Pep Guardiola – in only 213 games, the fastest manager to reach that milestone – as City ended the day 12 points clear of Liverpool who have two games in hand – and the title race might not be over after all.
The Saints had put their bodies on the line and blocked out City chances with veteran goalkeeper Fraser Forster saving from Raheem Sterling, Rodri, and Phil Foden while Rodri, Gabriel Jesus, and Kevin De Bruyne also hit the woodwork.
Southampton could have gone 2-0 up through the lively Armando Broja who had two goals chalked off for offside and VAR also intervened to save the Saints from a late penalty shout and a red card for a dangerous looking foul on Aymeric Laporte.
City boss Pep Guardiola was encouraged by his team’s second half performance against Southampton, declaring it to be one of their best performances of the season.
He said: “It was an outstanding game, we prepared really well and it was one of our best performances of the season.
“Against that team they defended incredibly well and we suffered all the time.
“The result was only 1-1 but the performance was excellent.
“Sometimes you deserve to win and sometimes you don’t; today we were excellent.”
He defended Raheem Sterling’s misses and praised Gabriel Jesus’ input after he replaced the England man but also
He added: “The Premier League is so difficult, the title race is not over and won’t be over in 3 weeks.
“We have many tough games ahead of us and we will try to behave well until the end.”
Ralph Hasenhuttl was proud of his team and tried to play down a set-to between Jack Grealish and Oriol Romeu during the game as Grealish waited for the Southampton player in the tunnel.
“They spoke about it and everything is good.” he said.
Aymeric Laporte rescues a point for under-par Manchester City at Southampton after Kyle Walker-Peters scores
Ruben Dias was City’s only change from their win against Chelsea, replacing John Stones.
City were tentative starters, Sterling should have done better with an early through ball, but City were overall below their best as they came up against an aggressive Saints side.
And Southampton got off to a perfect start after just seven minutes as Saints switched play from left to right and Kyle Walker-Peters exchanged passes with Nathan Redmond and curled the ball past Ederson with a sweet strike with the outside of his boot.
It was Walker-Peters’ first Premier League goal in 68 appearances and only the third time City’s Premier League defence had been breached in the first half this season.
Armando Broja, on-loan from Chelsea, beat Ederson after 23 minutes after a ball over the top appeared to leave Kyle Walker in his wake but he was clearly offside.
Broja was brought down by Ederson for what should have been a textbook penalty but the Albanian youngster was clearly offside as City struggled to get into their stride with two speculative Joao Cancelo efforts well wide of the mark.
Sterling curled a shot wide of the back post on his left foot after City tried to put some pressure on Southampton who were intent on disrupting the visitors by fair means or foul.
Sterling was defied by Fraser Forster in the 38th minute with a brilliant save and a clearance while on his backside as the winger looked certain to equalise after getting a great ball from Foden.
Ederson saved from Jan Bednarek’s header from a Southampton corner after the break as Saints continued to be a threat.
Rodri forced a save from Forster as City also threatened but Broja found himself clear again but his shot was blocked by Aymeric Laporte, and the Albanian hit the woodwork from close range from the resulting corner with Bednarek firing the rebound wide.
Foden had a shot saved by Forster and Rodri saw his shot graze the crossbar.
Sterling was replaced by Gabriel Jesus after an hour as City changed personnel.
And City were soon level through Laporte after 65 minutes when he forced a header past Forster from 6 yards out after he raced onto Kevin De Bruyne’s free kick from wide on the right.
It was the 11th header goal in the Premier League that Southampton had conceded this term as Laporte notched up his third goal of the season.
City were encouraged to go for the winner and Foden had a shot blocked by Mohammed Salisu, De Bruyne hit the post, and Jesus was denied by Forster.
The pressure finally told after 77 minutes when De Bruyne was brought down on the edge of the box with VAR confirming that there was no penalty.
And VAR was also lenient to Stuart Armstrong as he went in high on Laporte, the winger had escaped a red card and was removed immediately afterwards by Ralf Hasenhuttl.
Cancelo’s cross almost reached Jesus as City continued to seek the winner against the tiring Saints.
Ibrahima Diallo, on for Armstrong, had a tame shot at Ederson as the game petered out with City unable to find a winner as De Bruyne’s late shot went wide and the Belgian was also denied by Forster at the death.
GOALS – Southampton 1, Manchester City 1
Southampton 1, Man City 0: 7. Kyle Walker-Peters exchanged passes with Nathan Redmond before striking a curling effort with the outside of his boot past Ederson.
Southampton 1, Man City 1: 65. Aymeric Laporte stole in from a deep position to head home Kevin De Bruyne’s free kick.
MATCH STATS – Southampton 1, Manchester City 1
Southampton: Forster, Walker-Peters, Bednarek (Lyanco 71), Salisu, Perraud, Redmond (Elyounoussi 46), Ward-Prowse, Romeu, S Armstrong (Diallo 82), Broja, Adams
Southampton subs not used: Caballero, Stephens, Long, A Armstrong, Walcott, Valery
Booking: Bednarek 33 (foul on Jack Grealish), Armstrong 80 (bad foul, a boot high on the thigh of Aymeric Laporte); Elyounoussi 90+2 (foul on Kevin De Bruyne)
Goal: Walker-Peters 7
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne, Sterling (Jesus 60), Grealish, Foden
Man City subs not used: Carson, Slicker, Stones, Ake, Gundogan, Fernandinho, McAtee, Wilson-Esbrand
Goal: Laporte 65
Referee: Simon Hooper