Erling Haaland‘s return inspired Manchester City to a commanding victory that reduced the deficit at the top of the Premier League to five points.
After the bottom-of-the-table Southampton, who eliminated City from the Carabao Cup in January, had made a strong start, Haaland scored just before halftime by nodding in a Kevin De Bruyne cross.
In the second half, Jack Grealish scored in his second attempt to extend the lead before Haaland scored his 30th league goal of the season with an acrobatic volley from Grealish’s cross.
Saints’ Sekou Mara managed to get one back, but Haaland’s replacement Julian Alvarez quickly regained the three-goal lead.
The game’s talking points are listed below.
1. The living saints are wasteful.
In the first half, when the vivacious Kamaldeen Sulemana was Southampton’s best chance to bother City and their most likely chance to score, there were indications of exactly what Southampton wanted to be doing.
Before the 21-year-old, a club record signing from Rennes in January, suddenly looked to run out of room to damage City, for whom the usually outstanding Nathan Ake had recovered effectively, St. Mary’s was brought to its knees by one lightning strike.
Sulemana’s performance in the first half did seem to capture much of Southampton’s effort.
Though the execution was poor, the spirit was willing.
2. The moment-to-moment man
Despite how poorly Liverpool was performing, there was a sense that if Haaland had to miss one game against City due to injury in the race for the title, the Reds’ performance at home wasn’t too awful.
City craves control in big games, so switching from their regular No. 9 to a roaming, more mobile attacking output allowed them to swarm all over the pitch and control the ball, eventually choking the helpless visitors.
Although they were always going to enjoy the most of the possession in this situation, it would be their willingness to take risks and, most importantly, their ability to score the game’s first goal that would shatter Southampton’s spirit.
Just before halftime, shortly after another Sulemana shot had missed the target, Haaland did that.
Before that, he had barely touched the ball, but he wasn’t required to.
He scored a fantastic acrobatic goal in the second half to bring his season total to 30, making him the first City player to accomplish that feat since Franny Lee in 1972.
3. Kevin, the makers’ king
De Bruyne, of course, was responsible for the opening Haaland goal, and when his Norwegian teammate nodded in his cross, the Belgian recorded his 100th Premier League assist.
He’s the fifth person to reach the milestone, but he did it the fastest, scoring his century in 237 games, 56 fewer than the next-closest competitor, Cesc Fabregas. FORTY-SIX.
a result of being on such a powerful team? Naturally, but also of his exceptional quality.
Few, if any, more inventive midfielders have ever played in this division.
4. Can Grealish continue to score goals?
The good news for Grealish is that he’ll hear less about his £100m price tag the more decisive an influence he has on games, and he’s approaching that challenge the right way.
After his goal and *that* outstanding defensive effort against Liverpool the previous week, he scored again here for his fifth goal of the year, which essentially sealed City’s victory because the Saints were unable to recover.
Grealish acknowledged that he felt peripheral to City’s Premier League championship triumph last season, but he has a strong chance of playing a significant role in this one.
5. Being proactive pays rewards
The idea of City “going first” before Arsenal travels to Anfield tomorrow is really just the knowledge that a win would reduce the gap to five despite their defeat here in the Carabao Cup earlier this season. Therefore, the knowledge behind them “going first” is really just the knowledge that a win would reduce the gap to five.
How Arsenal responds will shape the rest of the title race given the buzz surrounding the game at Liverpool, which is in some ways creating its own hype.
The only thing the city could do was to convey this message. Then they wait.