Man City beats Southampton 3-1 in Premier League

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

City saw key striker Sergio Aguero hobble off with what appeared to be an ankle injury mid-way through the second half, but Pellegrini played down the extent of the problem.

Manchester City bounced back from last weekend’s 4-1 hammering at the hands of Liverpool, with the Citizens running out deserved 3-1 winners against Southampton. Pellegrini said: “David is a very important player, the same as Kun – one of the players that is very hard to replace”. Meanwhile, Southampton’s impressive unbeaten run away from home has now come to an abrupt end.

Man City V Southampton – view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live. Fans will be waiting with baited breath on news of the Argentinian’s condition though manager Manuel Pellegrini downplayed it as “nothing important”.

“If we win we are going to recover one position in the Premier League and we have the opportunity to win in the Capital One Cup [against Hull City next Tuesday]”.

After consecutive defeats to Liverpool and Juventus, Pellegrini was pleased City returned to winning ways, insisting they can not afford to drop more points at home in the Premier League. We’ll need to play well to win.

Pellegrini’s side were beaten by the same scoreline the last time that goalkeeping understudy Willy Caballero filled in for Hart at Tottenham in September, but the manager retains full faith in a goalkeeper he coached during his time at Malaga. Tadic played a quick free-kick to Sadio Mane down the right-hand flank and he crossed for Shane Long who rose brilliantly to head the ball into the back of the net.

Sunderland climbed out of the relegation places at Newcastle’s expense with a 2-0 home win over Stoke City, Patrick van Aanholt and Duncan Watmore scoring late on after visiting captain Ryan Shawcross was sent off. Long stepped into the breach in Pelle’s absence in Southampton’s creditable 1-1 draw at Chelsea in March last season.

Ross Barkley looked to have given Everton victory when he restored their lead in the fifth minute of stoppage time, only for Stanislas to snatch an implausible equaliser with a cool header three minutes later.

Southampton finally responded to the onslaught with an attack of their own and centre-back Van Dijk was unlucky to see his furious strike rebound off the bar from just outside the City box.