Manchester City news: Southampton draw underlines Premier League’s toughness says Pep Guardiola
- Seb Sternik
- 22 January 2022
Despite dominating every facet of the game, Manchester City failed to win all three points away at St Mary’s after being held to a 1-1 draw.
The hosts took an early lead through Kyle Walker-Peters and held on to their advantage until the 65th minute.
It was at this point when Aymeric Laporte headed the visitors level following a delivery from Kevin De Bruyne.
Despite turning up the heat in the final 25 minutes, the league leaders were unable to break down a well organised Saints defence and in the end, had to settle for the point.
Pep Guardiola used the result to illustrate the difficulty of winning the Premier League in his post-match interview.
The City boss said: "That's why it is the hardest prize to achieve every season, the most important one.
"It's so difficult, with different contenders, everyone is ready. We are the reigning champions, we have won a lot in the past, and it's not so funny for the rest, so it's more difficult to win and win.
"That's why making back-to-back titles in the last 12, 13 years has happened only once, which was ourselves, and now we're trying to do it again.
"We know how difficult it is and I don't need to win, draw or lose today to know that we still have a lot of games to play. What we have to do is try to behave and play the way we played today.
"Even winning today, the title race would not be over. In January, no one is champion, there are many games that must be played."
Despite the draw, the Spaniard was pleased with the performance and also praised Southampton for their resilience.
He said: "We play to play good and try to defend our badge and our people as best as possible and the title will always be a consequence of what we've done.
"Today was really good. We played really well - maybe for 15, 20 minutes, we were not aggressive enough - but the last 20, 25 minutes (in the first half) we were excellent and the second half was excellent too.
"We made an excellent performance today against a top side who defended well and punish on the counter attack.
"It's always tough to play against them because they have experience and many, many things, and they made an exceptional performance."
Man City's 12-match winning run in the Premier League may have come to an end, however their focus will now switch to the FA Cup as they prepare for a clash with Fulham on Saturday, February 5.
