With City hopeful that Sergio Aguero’s latest knock on Saturday is only minor, they can enjoy the prospect of Silva – who tasted his first action for almost two months – dovetailing with De Bruyne, whose opening goal in the 3-1 victory was his seventh in 16 matches together.
Advertisement
After being publicly criticized by Pellegrini following the loss to Liverpool, City’s players looked determined to make amends in the first half.
It was a miss the visitor would regret nearly instantly as Paul Pogba orchestrated a Juventus break, skipping past De Bruyne to feed Alex Sandro before the wing-back’s measured delivery was slotted home on the volley by Mandzukic. However, Ronald Koeman’s side did go close soon after Delph’s goal when Virgil van Dijk saw his shot crash back off the crossbar.
Fabian Delph scored City’s second on his first start for the club, his goal coming seconds after Steven Davis had escaped punishment for a goal-line handball.
Southampton rallied with a header from Shane Long shortly after half-time but City’s wobble was ended by De Bruyne setting up Aleksandar Kolarov for a third after 79 minutes.
The Saints can chalk this one off as a lesson learned, while for City it is a welcome return to winning ways at the end of a tricky week and puts them top of the table ahead of Leicester City’s match with Manchester United. They’re both very quick, technically gifted players, with enough skill in their lockers to terrorize the City fullbacks – particularly on the counter attack. The ball is needlessly given away in central midfield and Aguero is played clean through on goal, but Stekelenburg comes flying off his line to make a great save. Fabian Delph, making his starting debut for City, grabbed a second from a deflected shot from range before the half.
Caballero performed strongly, with good saves from Dusan Tadic and Long as Saints pressed in the second period.
De Bruyne has been excellent since his £54.5million move, fulfilling the prediction of his club and national team skipper Vincent Kompany that City would be a better fit than his previous Premier League club Chelsea.
Manchester City recovered well from last week’s stumble against Liverpool to get their title campaign back on track, overcoming a Southampton side without Graziano Pellè.
After a tough week in league-play and in the UEFA Champions League, Manchester City bounced back in huge fashion by beating Southampton 3-1 on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium.
Advertisement
Given the injuries they’ve suffered, they perhaps deserve more credit.
