Manchester City 5-2 Southampton: Pep Guardiola’s side go 14 points clear at the top

Ralph Hasenhuttl bolted when the third went in. Had enough. Down the tunnel, he didn’t bother waiting for the half-time whistle. Expletives spewed, his club cap almost tossed in disgust. Maybe the cold realities of Manchester’s chill halted that particular act of ire.

The goal was avoidable, as most of them were. Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez – both of whom ended the night with a brace – picked through their visitors with too much ease, Ilkay Gundogan finishing the move after Mahrez struck a post.

The game was done and Hasenhuttl knew it. He also knew that this might have been very different, as strange as that may seem given Manchester City ultimately thumped five.

Manchester City beat Southampton 5-2 at the Etihad to go 14 points clear of Manchester United at the top of the table

Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a tap-in from close range after Phil Foden’s shot was saved

The midfielder just about kept his effort below the crossbar to claim his third Premier League goal of the season

Southampton got themselves back in the game with a James Ward-Prowse penalty after Jannik Vestegaard was brought down

The Saints’ captain made no mistake as he sent his spot-kick straight down the middle to score his eighth goal of the season

Riyad Mahrez restored City’s lead after he intercepted Che Adams’ loose pass to fire a curling shot beyond Alex McCarthy

Those sat inside the Etihad Stadium had been casting glances at one another. City were obviously not themselves, not the team Pep Guardiola described as ‘completely on fire’ in training a day prior. They were a little sluggish, lax in the pass and slow during crucial transitions that decide so many Premier League matches.

Yet after the third it was finished and not longer after that, Guardiola began thinking about Fulham at the weekend, resting protagonists. Six more wins will make a third title in four seasons absolutely certain. And that, after the derby shock here last Sunday, was the main takeaway.

A fright every so often does them good, says the manager, but it was somewhat surprising to contend with one for 40 minutes or so. The end result was emphatic, and the lead of 14 points over United imposing, yet it also feels as if City have another level or two to reach before the season’s climax. Perhaps that will represent genius timing come the end of May.

City looked like they could have had a penalty when McCarthy challenged Phil Foden in the box but VAR opted not to overturn the original decision

Ilkay Gundogan made it 3-1 just before half time after Mahrez’s shot came back off the post with the midfielder tapping in 

‘The first 15 minutes they were the best team we’ve faced home or away,’ Guardiola said. ‘We suffered. You have to win these games, that’s why I love the Premier League.’

De Bruyne had given City a 15th-minute lead, bundling in after Phil Foden’s effort had been kept out by Alex McCarthy, a passage engineered by a raking Ruben Dias pass. They had started poorly but normality felt as if it had been restored.

Until City conspired to lose possession on their near touchline eight minutes later, that is. Sloppily, it has to be said, and Southampton played through midfield with one pass, Nathan Redmond forcing Ederson to tip wide. The corner was not dealt with, Jannik Vestergaard’s header saved yet Aymeric Laporte tugged the big centre half as the ball bounced back towards them. James Ward-Prowse rolled the penalty down the middle. 

A soft one, and even softer when compared to the nonsense decision not to reward Foden for attempting to stay on his feet soon after.

Another inglorious and unexplainably shambolic night for those who operate VAR, the majestic Foden having his left foot taken away by McCarthy after the Southampton goalkeeper had miscontrolled a back pass. That unfathomably bad call might have been defining on another evening. Not here, two moments changing the game and Hasenhuttl’s mood as Southampton stared at a ninth defeat in 11.  

Still at 1-1, Aleks Zinchenko gifted the ball away in his own third and Saints were in business, an angle worked for Moussa Djenepo inside the box. He skewed wide. Shortly after, Che Adams decided to attempt a lazy square ball just outside their area, finding the feet of Mahrez, who carefully found the corner of McCarthy’s net from distance five minutes before the break. ‘A horrible pass by Che,’ Hasehuttl said. ‘If you make mistakes, City are unbelievable. World class.’

Mahrez made it 4-1 early in the second half, holding off two defenders before unleashing an unstoppable shot past McCarthy 

Che Adams pulled a goal back straight after Mahrez’s second as he turned in from close range to make it 4-2

De Bruyne added his second with a fine finish to make it 5-2 after some good work from Foden in the build-up

That is the difference, why this magnificent City machine will romp the league. Even on potentially sticky nights, they win the big moments.

Mahrez’s strike was preventable in the build-up and so was the third; Southampton stood in awe as the Algerian sauntered past challenges and Gundogan volleyed home. Hasenhuttl admitted ‘the atmosphere changed in the dressing room’ as a result, back out from half-time long before his players.

This was the first time Mahrez had ever started six consecutive league matches since moving from Leicester City in 2019 and he has finished that mini-spell with four goals, albeit easier when opposing defenders allow you a five-yard radius between the posts. They watched – again – as he feinted and slapped into McCarthy’s corner 10 minutes into the second half.

It was a strange game. Saints kept City within two just seconds of Mahrez’s second, Bernardo Silva passing into danger and Adams wriggling a shot beyond Ederson. Guardiola apoplectic, annoyance extinguished by De Bruyne just before the hour, afforded ridiculous freedom to tiptoe towards goal and slide in a fifth. 

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