- David Silva opens scoring
- Saints level through Hojbjerg, who is later sent off
- City scores a minute apart before halftime
Manchester City stopped its rot with a 3-1 win over Southampton at St. Mary’s on Sunday.
David Silva and Sergio Aguero scored to go along a James Ward-Prowse own goal, as City pulled to within seven points of Liverpool ahead of a big match on Thursday at the Etihad Stadium.
Saints are in 17th place, above victorious Burnley on goal differential, as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored a wonderful goal in the first half but was sent off in the second for a high challenge.
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Alex McCarthy stopped an early chance, and Southampton nearly had a gilt-edged opportunity were it not for an off-balance Charlie Austin.
That was when Saints’ hopes to a big hit, with Bernardo Silva finding David Silva alone in the heart of the box for a calm finish past McCarthy. Dave’s done this before.
Riyad Mahrez took a long dribble after City broke the Saints’ high press, but blazed an arrow wide despite the presence of Raheem Sterling to his left for a presumably easier finish.
Saints leveled the score line through Hojbjerg, who took the ball off Oleksandr Zinchenko, dribbled into the City box, kept space from Vincent Kompany, and sweetly struck a ball past Ederson.
Raheem Sterling put City back in front, albeit the own goal route and with no help from McCarthy’s slow reaction to a deflected pass.
Aguero went a more traditional route, nodding home from a cross to make it 3-1 into the break.
McCarthy denied Mahrez a chance at 4-1 in the 80th minute of a mostly quiet second half, which got a little louder when Hojbjerg was shown red in the 85th for a studs-up challenge on Fernandinho.
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10 - Bernardo Silva has been directly involved in 10 goals in 19 Premier League apps this season (5 goals, 5 assists), equalling his total in 2017-18 in 35 games (6 goals, 4 assists). Progression.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 30, 2018
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