Southampton 1-1 Manchester City: Three Things We Learned

The Premier League is constantly surprising us on a week to week basis and last night, we saw another intriguing – and somewhat unpredictable – encounter between Southampton and Manchester City. It was a clash between two clubs who were in very different positions heading into their clash on the south coast but by the end of the evening, there wasn’t a whole lot to separate them; providing yet further proof that the top flight of English football is one of the most entertaining leagues in the world.

Today, we’re going to take a look at some things we’ve come to learn upon further analysis of this

City aren’t invincible

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his squad’s ability to maintain a high level of consistency in the wake of their fantastic lead at the top of the Premier League table, but one of the reasons why he probably chose to focus on that is to avoid the reality of the situation – they didn’t get the win. It may not be a big deal by the time we get to the end of the campaign, but in this moment, it definitely shows some room for improvement is needed.

Saints hold on

Southampton took the lead and held onto it for a long time, but of course, City are always going to come at you with everything they’ve got – especially if they’re behind, sort of like a wounded animal. The credit, though, needs to go to the Saints for holding on after the equaliser came. Ralph Hasenhuttl would’ve been letting his players know just how important this game could be for their survival aspirations beforehand, and after edging their way over the finish line, they can begin to look ahead to the remainder of their fixtures without any real fear.

Hope for Liverpool?

As of this writing, Liverpool have beaten Crystal Palace 3-1 on Super Sunday to move within nine points of Manchester City at the top of the table. If they’re able to win their upcoming game in hand, that’ll be reduced to six points. It’s still an unbelievably big ask for them to create any kind of sustainable pressure that would be enough to knock City off course, but a small opening is all they needed. Jurgen Klopp, when the end of the season arrives, could back and see this weekend as the moment where the momentum really did begin to shift.