- City seal second place, finish the season on 79 points
- Frank Lampard ends his PL career with a goal
- Southampton finish in seventh, their highest-ever PL finish
- Sergio Aguero wins golden boot with 26 PL goals this season
Manchester City beat Southampton 2-0 on Sunday as the Citizens finished the season off in style.
[ RELATED: Watch full match replays ]
Goals in either half from Frank Lampard and Sergio Aguero secured the victory, with Aguero securing the PL’s golden boot award in the process, as Southampton failed to properly test Joe Hart with Sadio mane and Shane Long wasting good chances in the second half. Hart also won the golden glove for the most clean sheets (14) in the PL this season.
[ RELATED: Latest Premier League standings ]
City finish the season in second place on 79 points, the fourth-straight season they have finished in the top two of the PL, while Saints finish in seventh on 60 points and must now wait for the FA Cup final result to find out if they will play in the Europa League next season.
[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]
Saints took the game to City early on as Filip Djuricic was taken out by Martin Demichelis in the first minute and the City defender was shown a yellow card. City eventually woke up and Aguero was denied three times by Saints’ goalkeeper Kelvin Davis as the Argentine striker buzzed in and around Southampton’s defense.
6 - Frank Lampard has scored at least six goals in each of the last 13 Premier League campaigns. Icon.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 24, 2015
The opening goal of the game arrived in the 31st minute as James Milner cut the ball back from the right and Lampard timed his run perfectly to net his 177th goal in the PL in his final appearance in England’s top-flight. 1-0. In the second half Saints pushed forward to try and get the goals they needed to secure a place in the top six but Hart twice thwarted Mane and Long in quick succession with Koeman’s men running out of time.
[ MORE: Click here for full lineups, stats, box score ]
Lampard was then substituted and received a standing ovation from both sets of fans as he heads onto MLS with New York City FC. Late on Aguero made it 2-0 as he headed home his 26th goal of the season to sink Saints and give City a winning finish to what has been a disappointing campaign for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.