Southampton 1-3 Man City: David Silva & Aguero's goals send City to 2nd place

David Silva and Sergio Aguero helped to get Manchester City back on track as Pep Guardiola's defending champions beat Southampton 3-1.

Match Report

Manchester City returned to winning ways ahead of their blockbuster showdown against Premier League leaders Liverpool with a 3-1 win at Southampton.

The defending champions ceded ground to Jurgen Klopp's side with back-to-back defeats versus Crystal Palace and Leicester City, and they once again let an early lead slip as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – later sent off for a reckless lunge on Fernandinho – cancelled out David Silva's 10th-minute opener.

A James Ward-Prowse own-goal on the stroke of half-time, moments after the Southampton midfielder had penalty claims rejected, and Sergio Aguero's injury-time header steadied City nerves before the break.

Player Ratings

Match Events

10'GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Man City (David Silva)

GOOOOOOOOOOAL! 1-1! Superb work from Hojbjerg as he snatches possession off Zinchenko and surges into the box before smashing a ferocious effort into the net that gives Ederson no chance.

37'GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Man City (Hojbjerg)

GOOOOOOOOOOAL! 1-1! Superb work from Hojbjerg as he snatches possession off Zinchenko and surges into the box before smashing a ferocious effort into the net that gives Ederson no chance.

45'OWN GOAL! Southampton 1-2 Man City (Ward-Prowse)

GOOOOOAL! 2-1 City! A goal from absolutely nothing! Sterling tries to fire a delivery across the face of goal from a wide position and it takes a huge deflection off of Ward-Prowse, with McCarthy unable to do anything about it.

48'GOAL! Southampton 1-3 Man City (Aguero)

GOOOOOAL! 3-1! A real kick in the teeth for Southampton! Zinchenko, who was at fault for the Saints' goal, fires a superb cross into the middle where Aguero has found space and he heads at goal, where McCarthy gets a hand to the ball but cannot keep it out.

85'Red Card! Hojbjerg sent off

The day gets worse for Southampton as Hojbjerg is given his marching orders after a very poor lunging challenge on Fernandinho, which really gave the referee no choice.

Line-ups

Southampton XI: Alex McCarthy, Romeu, Austin, Stephens, Lemina, Højbjerg, M. Elyounoussi, J.W Prowse, J. Bednarek, Targett, K. Ramsey

Subs: S.Long, M. Yoshida, S. Armstrong, D. Ings, Redmond, Angus Gunn, Y. Valery

Man City XI: V. Kompany, David Silva, S. Agüero, Fernandinho, Danilo, Mahrez, R. Sterling, A.Laporte, Ederson Moraes, Zinchenko, Bernardo Silva

Subs: N. Otamendi, K. Walker, J. Stones, Sané, Gabriel Jesus, Foden, A. Murić