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Manchester, United Kingdom | AFP | Manchester City prepared for next weekend’s top of the Premier League table clash against Liverpool by coming from behind for a nervous 2-1 victory over struggling Southampton on Saturday.
Right-back Kyle Walker was the unlikely hero as he volleyed in an 87th minute winner to the champions’ relief.
At that stage, with league leaders Liverpool trailing against Aston Villa, City were facing the prospect of cutting the gap at the top of the table of just three points.
However, Jurgen Klopp’s side pulled off an even more dramatic comeback to win 2-1 at Villa Park and maintain their six-point cushion.
“It happens a lot of time, Liverpool winning because of their talent,” said City boss Pep Guardiola.
“If they win a lot of games in the last minutes, it’s because they are special characters.
“In the first season we won the title, we got 100 points and won four or five games in the last minute; last season we won more comfortably. This (win) is like the first year.”
Given City’s much-vaunted attacking arsenal, Walker was the surprise hero of the victory, setting up an equaliser for Sergio Aguero, to cancel out James Ward-Prowse’s opening goal, and then scoring the late winner himself.
Angelino, making his first league start for City, unleashed a dangerous cross which keeper Alex McCarthy palmed unconvincingly away from goal but the ball sat up kindly for Walker who slid in to meet it with a volley which flew into the open net from eight yards.
It capped an eventful game in which City enjoyed near-total domination but, unexpectedly, fell behind to Southampton’s first real attack of the game on 12 minutes.
– Two years on –
Danny Ings’ through ball found Nathan Redmond who, in turn, picked out Stuart Armstrong to unleash a powerful shot from the edge of the City area.
It should have been nothing more than a routine save for Ederson but the Brazilian fumbled the ball, allowing the alert Ward-Prowse to respond first and hook the ball past the stranded keeper.
Thanks to some determined defending, the visitors, who conceded nine to Leicester last weekend and were easily beaten 3-1 by City in the League Cup in midweek, held that lead until the 71st minute.
However, they were finally opened up when Kevin De Bruyne’s pass sent Walker to the by-line and his cross found an unmarked Aguero to sweep home the equaliser from eight yards.
City pressed on and found the winner late on, just as they did to beat Southampton by the same scoreline two years ago thanks to Raheem Sterling’s injury time strike.
“Two seasons ago the winner was later, here there were a few minutes left but it was quite similar,” said the City manager.
“It was more difficult this time because they had scored with only one shot on target. We were patient and the rhythm was high from the first minute. That was good, and a big compliment for the team. It wasn’t easy but we did it.”
Guardiola’s frustration was clear from his increasingly agitated behaviour in the technical area and Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl took that as a compliment to his side’s defending.
“I think we have seen him be a little bit nicer than today,” said Hasenhuttl.
“That was the reason, because he was a little bit nervous because he could lose this game.
“You saw how much he wanted to win this 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.”
