Manchester City recovered from their recent dip in form with victory over a resurgent Southampton, with Pep Guardiola's side sealing the win before half-time
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WELL that takes care of Thursday night.
Order in the pizza, put the phone on silent and settle down for 90 minutes on the sofa.
Manchester City-Liverpool at the Etihad has just become one of the biggest matches in Premier League history.
City, save for the occasional scare at St Mary’s, were approaching their ruthless, rampant best against this gutsy Southampton side.
Nice timing.
Liverpool’s impressive 10 point lead over City was cut to seven after this convincing win on the south coast.
In just over 72 hours, in a do-or-die game against Jurgen Klopp’s men, it could be down to just four.
Bring it on.
The defending champions, bruised and hurt after crushing defeats against Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Leicester, are back in the hunt.
They never really went away, not when they have a steady supply of goals from David Silva, Raheem Sterling’s deflected effort and Sergio Aguero to call on.
All three will be out there on Thursday, readying themselves for this colossal fixture against the league leaders.
They scored City’s goals at Southampton, putting Pep Guardiola’s team in to a commanding lead by the time they went into the break.
City, desperate to become the first team to retain the title since Manchester United in 2009, simply had to win.
They had it in the bag by half-time, out of sight after recovering from Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg’s corking equaliser.
It provoked City, daring them to send players forward in search of the goals that would kickstart the countdown to Thursday.
They know the whole of Liverpool was watching this one, waiting for them to slip up again after this tricky little spell.
Instead they won it with something to spare.
They took the lead after 10 minutes, with Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva combing through Southampton’s defence.
Bernardo set up the chance, directing his cut-back into the path of David Silva to turn in the opening goal.
They were in the mood for more, with Mahrez and Aguero both denied after David Silva made the magic happen.
It was all getting a little bit too casual, with City bedding in for another 90 minutes of passing for passing’s sake.
That was until Southampton stirred.
Charlie Austin’s carthorse touch let him down when he was put through and Ederson spared City with a left-handed save from the Saints striker.
They got there in the end.
Aleksandr Zinchenko went to sleep, dozing on the edge of the area after 37 hazy minutes at left-back.
Hojbjberg took advantage, pinching the ball off the dopey defender before smashing Southampton’s equaliser beyond Ederson.
St Mary’s was crazy for it.
So, too, were Liverpool, as they started dreaming about a nine point lead ahead of Thursday’s showdown.
City are living in the real world.
They went to work on Southampton, recovering from James Ward-Prowse’s penalty appeal a minute before the break to score twice before the half was out.
Sterling livened things up, tricking his way inside before his effort was deflected beyond Alex McCarthy by Ward-Prowse.
Poor lad.
Southampton failed to recover, to put enough bodies behind the ball to get them to the break with only one goal separating them.
Zinchenko, far better going forward than he was at the back, slung in an inviting cross from the left towards Aguero.
It was an excellent ball, with City’s main man appearing between Southampton’s two central defenders to direct a downward header beyond McCarthy.
They played keep-ball after the break, conserving energy as Pep tries to work on a theme to be able to beat the red men.
Aguero, eventually making way for Gabriel Jesus in the 73rdminute, smacked a second half effort against the upright before he was taken off.
Mahrez had the next best chance, bounding in on goal from the right before McCarthy came out to stop him making it 4-1.
They were better here, finding their rhythm after the return of Fernandinho to the centre of midfield.
He is a protected species, substituted by Guardiola just moments after Hojbjerg was sent off for a brutal foul on him four minutes from time.
City need Fernandinho fit for Thursday, to settle the champions down and stop all those attacks being launched from Liverpool’s midfield.
They need him out there, to bring this City team to the boil ahead of this must-win match against the league leaders.
Thursday nights will never be the same again.
INTERACTIVE STATS - CLICK on the categories to find out how the teams fared
INTERACTIVE LINE-UPS– CLICK on a player’s number below to see their stats
