Doubles for De Bruyne, Mahrez in Man City win over Southampton
Sports Desk, Mar 10 (efe-epa).- Manchester City rebounded from last weekend’s loss to Manchester United with a 5-2 victory Wednesday against Southampton.
Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez each had a brace for the Premier League leaders, who go 14 points ahead of United, though the Red Devils have a game in hand.
Southampton, who have lost eight of their last 11 matches, remain 14th in the table on 33 points, just 7 clear of the drop zone.
Pep Guardiola’s men showed no sign of suffering any after-effects of the derby defeat that ended City’s winning streak at 21 games.
De Bruyne put the hosts up in the 15th minute, scoring off the rebound after Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy made the initial stop against Phil Foden.
Jannik Vestergaard forced a save from City keeper Ederson in the 23rd minute before being taken down in the box by Aymeric Laporte.
The referee pointed to the spot and James Ward-Prowse converted to bring Southampton level.
City appealed for a penalty in the 31st when McCarthy obstructed Foden, but the referee declined and VAR confirmed the ruling. Two minutes later, Ederson had to deal with a dangerous strike from Ward-Prowse.
Mahrez exploited a giveaway by Che Adams to make it 2-1 for City in the 40th minute.
The margin grew to 3-1 in the final seconds of first-half stoppage time as Ilkay Gündogan scored on the follow-up after a blast from Mahrez hit the post.
McCarthy did well to deny Foden early in the second half, but couldn’t stop Mahrez from completing the double in the 55th minute.
Making up for his earlier mistake, Adams pulled back a goal for the Saints a minute later.
Just ahead of the hour mark, De Bruyne got his second of the evening. EFE
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