Southampton 0-1 Man City: Saints ease to safety despite loss
By Marc Walker
Southampton cruised to Premier League safety despite a late Gabriel Jesus strike meaning they lost their last game of the season 1-0 to Manchester City.
A determined and resilient display from Mark Hughes’ Southampton side had seen them limit clear cut chances for champions City throughout the afternoon as well as go close to scoring themselves, but it was ultimately Brazilian Jesus’ strike with the last kick of the game that stole the three points.
Stoke’s 2-1 win against Swansea also helped the matter and ultimately reduced the stress for the Saints fans for much of the afternoon.
A bright start from Southampton saw them put their opponents on the back foot early on. Dusan Tadic’s corner was flicked goalwards by the head of Maya Yoshida, but Claudio Bravo produced a good save to keep it out.
Another set-piece would then produce a second opening for the Saints as a free-kick found its way to Wesley Hoedt at the back-post, but he could only drag a low effort into the side-netting.
Manchester City soon clicked into gear though and Southampton were forced back into their strong 5-4-1 structure. It was successful too as City were limited to long-range effort from Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne that went harmlessly wide.
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Perhaps the strangest part of the first period came as Jack Stephens lofted a clearance so high that it landed on the roof of the Itchen stand and was met by ironic cheers by the St Mary’s faithful.
The theme of strong Saints defending continued in the second-half, and City would go the close through winger Sterling; his fierce strike cannoning off the post following their first real opening of the match.
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With the game still 0-0 however, Southampton sensed a chance to grab the full three points late on. A clever counter attack from the Saints saw Tadic work space brilliantly in the area and unleash a shot that was blocked well on the line.
By this time, St Mary’s was rocking with news of Stoke holding on to a slender lead over relegation rivals Swansea City, but a cruel late twist was to come.
Opposition striker Jesus broke free towards goal and lofted the ball over the stranded Alex McCarthy with the last kick of the game to send his team to 100 points, but ultimately the mood wasn’t dampened after another passionate display from Hughes’ men.
Southampton can now relax and hopefully look forward to a much stronger campaign in August after what will be an interesting summer of in-comings and out-goings.