Stubborn Saints Hold City

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Manchester City's quest to continue their winning run was on Saturday afternoon halted when Southampton came visiting as the defending champions were held to a barren draw by a disciplined Saints side.

The match, especially in the first 45 minutes was lacking of clear-cut goalscoring opportunities and the two goalkeepers were barely tested. The visitors started on the front foot before their hosts found their way into the game as the match wore on.

The first chance that looked like a goalscoring came from a James Ward Prowse's free kick in the 15th minute, which looked like it was sneaking into the far past, but eventually didn't.

Ralph Hassenhutl was forced to make a change late in first half when Jack Stephen pulled up, but couldn't continue after receiving treatment. He was to be replaced by Mohammed Salisu.

The game almost finally came to life just after the hour mark when Southampton were awarded a penalty and Kyle Waker sent off. Adams Armstrong received the ball from Nathan Redmond, before beating his marker to be through on goal, only to be brought down by Walker. Referee Jon Moss immediately pointed to the spot and showed Walker a red card. He, however, overturned both decisions after VAR review.

Pep Guardiola threw in all his firepower from the bench, bringing on Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden who had all started from the bench, but Southampton were not yielding, neither were City able to crack them open.

VAR again was at the Centre stage in the final minute of regular duration when Raheem Sterling found the back of the net to give City a hard-earned victory, only for the goal to be ruled out after VAR review showed that the former Liverpool man was offside when Foden headed the ball that initially came off the post.

Concluding Thoughts

Manchester City for the first time in 31 games have played a draw, having won 25 and lost five of their last 30 games.

It was a frustrating outing for Guardiola's men as they failed to register a single shot on target in the first half and could only muster one in their entire 90 minutes. The positive side is that they are yet to concede in their last four league games.

Southampton continue their search for their first win of the season having drawn all of their four previous game.