After defeating struggling Southampton thanks to an early goal from Erling Haaland, Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League.
The visitors appeared to be headed for a crushing loss until Haaland turned Matheus Nunes’ fifth-minute cross past Saints keeper Aaron Ramsdale after shrugging off Jan Bednarek. It was his 11th league goal of the year.
However, a few home nerves were maintained prior to the final whistle thanks to a mixture of their own tenacious defense and some subpar City finishing, with Haaland being the main offender.
The outcome increased City’s Premier League winning streak to 32 games. They have just six weeks left till they have gone a full year since their last loss, which came on December 6th to Aston Villa.
Despite their valiant efforts, Southampton’s struggles at the bottom of the table were not alleviated by the outcome.
Nearly a quarter of the way through the season, Russell Martin’s team still has just one point.
Martin must hope Southampton’s owners are patient with him as he attempts to turn the club around after their return to the top division, although they can find comfort in the fact that the only time they have lost any of their opening nine games was in 1998–99.
