Silva back for City but Hart out for Saints clash

After last Saturday’s woeful performance against Liverpool – a 4-1 defeat described as a “complete disaster” by Pellegrini – City attempted to redeem themselves with their supporters by peppering the Southampton goal from kick-off.

Wave after wave after City attack continued in the pouring rain in Manchester with Oriol Romeu giving the ball away cheaply but Stekelenburg saved well from Yaya Toure.

The platform for the win was laid as Kevin De Bruyne and Fabian Delph struck in the opening 20 minutes with Aleksandar Kolarov settling nerves after Shane Long pulled one back.

“But this match was not a question of tactics or the line-up – it was about the mistakes we made in the first 20 minutes”. When the weekend ends, City will have kept pace with their title rivals. This side is filled with superstars and at home they will be tough to face.

After being publicly criticized by Pellegrini following the loss to Liverpool, City’s players looked determined to make amends in the first half.

While Vardy took the plaudits, Bastian Schweinsteiger’s 46th-minute header from a Daley Blind corner – his first United goal – earned the visitors a point that left them in third place, a point off the summit.

There were strong suspicions of handball when Steven Davis turned Fernandinho’s header behind on the line, but City’s sense of injustice was short-lived. But after halftime, the flaky City of recent weeks resurfaced. The Argentine is without much game experience recently so will surely be tested in City’s next match against Southampton.

Sterling, whose final ball can often be wayward, timed his pass to De Bruyne perfectly, with the Belgian stroking home from six yards after Ryan Bertrand had failed to cut out the cross. The loss of Aguero was another worry but at least Silva returned. That is not about the systems, it is about playing the ball to the right colour.

Out: Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony (hamstring); David Silva (ankle/foot); Vincent Kompany (calf).

Kevin De Bruyne started the afternoon off with a simple finish after nine minutes.

Joe Hart was injured against Juventus last Wednesday. The Argentinian, brought to City from Pellegrini’s old club Malaga, has not offered almost the same level of security as England’s No.1.

The Citizens were all over Saints as Aleksandar Kolarov whipped in a free kick that Stekelenburg clawed out of the top corner and held onto the rebound well under pressure. Southampton performed admirably, particularly after falling 2-0 behind, but manager Ronald Koeman may wish he had played the impressive Dusan Tadic from the start.

“Joe Hart has a muscle injury – you never know as it depends how he improves but I think he will be out for ten days”.

Southampton almost reduced the deficit just a minute later but Virgil Van Djik’s stinging effort crashed against the crossbar with Willy Caballero well beaten.

This time a year ago, Southampton were not far off being the equivalent of Leicester this season, lying second behind runaway leaders Chelsea.