Manchester City battled to a 1-0 victory against Southampton at St Mary's Stadium in the Premier League, with Raheem Sterling netting the only goal of the game early on.

Pep Guardiola‘s men began in confident fashion on the wet and blustery south coast, spraying the ball confidently in the opening exchanges. 

The hosts were determined to press City high up the pitch and were picked off just after a quarter of an hour, with Ederson‘s lengthy kick reaching Kevin De Bruyne, who’s cutback was placed into the corner by Sterling from ten yards. 

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The goal seemed to awaken the Saints, who came close to an equaliser through Jannik Vestergaard, but his header from James Ward-Prowse’s corner was gratefully caught by Ederson.

Set-pieces seemed to be the hosts’ best form of attack, and Ward-Prowse came close from one in the second half as his in-swinging corner looked to be creeping in at the near post, but Ederson was alert to punch the ball clear.

As the game began to become stretched, City could counter effectively, but De Bruyne‘s effort from the edge of the area was tame and gathered comfortably by Alex McCarthy.

The shot-stopper was called into more rigorous action with 15 minutes to go, sprawling across his goal to parry away Gundogan‘s left-footed strike that was destined for the top corner. 

City saw out the last few minutes professionally to claim all three points, meaning we’ve now won 12 consecutive away matches that have kicked off at 3:00pm on a Saturday!

View the best images from the clash via our gallery below...