After being matched stride for stride since the start of the season, Manchester City finally move clear.
The defending champions capitalised on Liverpool dropping points at the Emirates with an emphatic 6-1 win over Southampton, putting them two points ahead of their nearest challengers.
City coasted to victory over Mark Hughes’ sorry visitors, just as they will coast to victories over plenty of middling opponents here this season, playing sublime football all the while.
Even without their outstanding player Kevin De Bruyne, sidelined for up to six weeks with yet another knee ligament injury, City were simply at another level. Raheem Sterling’s display was of particular note, with a hand in all but one of the goals, scoring twice and setting three up.
Premier League week 11 goals
1/19 Bournemouth 1-0 Manchester United
2/19 Bournemouth 1-1 Manchester United
3/19 Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester United
4/19 West Ham 1-0 Burnley
5/19 West Ham 1-1 Burnley
6/19 Everton 1-0 Brighton
7/19 Everton 1-1 Brighton
8/19 Everton 2-1 Brighton
9/19 Everton 3-1 Brighton
10/19 Cardiff 0-1 Leicester City
11/19 Newcastle 1-0 Watford
12/19 West Ham 2-1 Burnley
13/19 West Ham 2-2 Burnley
14/19 West Ham 3-2 Burnley
15/19 West Ham 4-2 Burnley
16/19 Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
17/19 Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
18/19 Wolves 0-1 Tottenham
19/19 Wolves 0-2 Tottenham
1/19 Bournemouth 1-0 Manchester United
2/19 Bournemouth 1-1 Manchester United
3/19 Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester United
4/19 West Ham 1-0 Burnley
5/19 West Ham 1-1 Burnley
6/19 Everton 1-0 Brighton
7/19 Everton 1-1 Brighton
8/19 Everton 2-1 Brighton
9/19 Everton 3-1 Brighton
10/19 Cardiff 0-1 Leicester City
11/19 Newcastle 1-0 Watford
12/19 West Ham 2-1 Burnley
13/19 West Ham 2-2 Burnley
14/19 West Ham 3-2 Burnley
15/19 West Ham 4-2 Burnley
16/19 Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
17/19 Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
18/19 Wolves 0-1 Tottenham
19/19 Wolves 0-2 Tottenham
It was the ease of the victory that should worry the pretenders to City’s throne. Three points against members of the ‘bottom 14’ at the Etihad is almost now a given. City’s challengers thus cannot afford a single slip up and Pep Guardiola’s side set a pace that is near impossible to match.
Ever the perfectionist, Guardiola used his pre-match programme notes to caution his players against wastefulness in front of goal after several scoring opportunities went begging in last Monday’s win at Tottenham Hotspur. “In big, important contests, if we are not clinical then – sooner or later – we are not going to win,” he warned.
The message appeared to hit home and Guardiola could have no complaints with his side’s uncompromising start, establishing a three-goal lead in the opening 18 minutes, even if it was a Southampton player that converted City’s first.
After James Ward-Prowse had tripped over his own feet in midfield, Leroy Sane drilled a low cross which Wesley Hoedt emphatically, if accidentally, put into the roof of his own net. The game was only six minutes old and another six minutes later, it was two.
Aguero doubled City’s lead, dispatching at point-blank range after Raheem Sterling’s dance through the Southampton defence and cut-back from the byline. It was Aguero’s 150th Premier League goal in his 217th appearance, with only Alan Shearer reaching that milestone faster.
The third, struck by captain David Silva on the half-volley, suggested that Mark Hughes was in for another long afternoon at the Etihad. The former City manager’s last visit had ended in a 7-2 defeat for his Stoke City.
Like on that day in October last year though, Hughes’ side would respond. When coming out to challenge Danny Ings, Ederson failed to take the ball, then failed to dive the right way when Ings converted the penalty low to the goalkeeper’s left. It was Southampton’s first Premier League goal in 49 days, coming against the top-flight’s meanest defence.
It was also Southampton’s only real moment of first-half resistance. City were otherwise dominant, sometimes laughably so. At one point, Sane, Sterling, Aguero and Silva worked the ball between themselves over and over again inside the penalty area, callously turning and nutmegging defenders, like a cat toying with a dying mouse.
The three-goal lead would eventually be re-established on the cusp of half time. Aguero, showing the endeavour and selflessness he has added to his all-round game, brilliantly robbed Cedric Soares at the byline and squared, setting up a simple finish and deserved goal for the excellent Sterling.
After such a dominant first-half display, City showed signs of complacency when the two sides re-emerged. Southampton tested Ederson, who denied Ings after spilling a Ward-Prowse attempt. Ings then saw a close-range header parried away on the goal-line.
There would be no sustained fightback though. City gradually reasserted themselves and, shortly after Sane had cracked a shot against the woodwork, Sterling found the fifth, firing past goalkeeper Alex McCarthy at an angle after Aguero’s through ball.
The sixth came late and again Sterling had a hand in it, teeing up Sane after a slick counter, with the winger’s strike arcing out of McCarthy’s reach. The rout was complete and the two-point lead was established.
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