Manchester City are after the league leaders

The defending champions are finally back on track with a 3-0 comfortable win against Southampton at St. Mary’s after being brought down to 10 men with more than quarter of an hour left to be played. Manchester City showed real character after being down to 10 men to hold the home team and score twice to earn a victory which might well turn out to be a season defining moment even in the early stages of the tournament.

A lot was at stake as the second placed Southampton locked horns with the third placed Manchester City on a Sunday afternoon kick-off. City began the match with real dominance. They easily could have got a penalty as early as in the 12^th minute when Sergio Aguero was fouled inside the penalty area. Instead the referee booked the Argentine for simulation. That did not seem to perturb the City players though for they attacked in tandem. However the best chance of the first half went to the home team when Joe Hart had to make a fine save midway through the half. And it stayed 0-0 at the end of the 45 minutes.

The home team began the second half in great fashion as they fancied at the goal twice from the distance. But it was City’s Yaya Toure who broke the deadlock in the 51^st minute. Sergio Aguero left the City midfielder to have a go at the goal and he was not the man to make a mistake from that place. As the match moved on it seemed that it would end with a 1-0 scoreline until the 75^th minute. Mangala was sent off for a second yellow and City were suddenly down to 10 men with 15 minutes still to play. It was a kind of a lifeline for Southampton but they failed to seize the opportunity. City on the other hand took advantage of the vacant spaces left by the Southampton defenders while going up as they doubled their lead on the 80^th minute through Frank Lampard. Soon they made it 3-0 in the 88^th minute. This time it was Gael Clichy who put his name on the scorecard for the first time in City colours since joining the club from Arsenal. Aguero was the provider once again. Southampton failed to capitalize on the one man advantage as they slumped to their first defeat of the season at home.

With this win and Chelsea dropping points last night, City are now 6 points adrift of the top spot. Clearly it’s game on now as the blue half of Manchester are looking good as the only contender for the title other than London side Chelsea.

• About the Author

About Argha Ghosh

An ardent follower of sports and die-hard Manchester United fan, Argha's ultimate dream is to watch a Manchester derby from the Stretford End at the Old Trafford.