Manchester City, outstanding leader of the Premier League, cut their streak of twelve consecutive wins in the championship by drawing 1-1 on their visit to Southampton, this Saturday on matchday 23.
French-born Spanish international Aymeric Laporte scored City’s equalizer with a header in the 65th minute.
He was thus able to balance the score again after Southampton went ahead in the 7th with a goal from Kyle Walker-Peters.
City, with just four shots between the three sticks in twenty attempts, did not have their most inspired game.
Their advantage in the lead is still very wide and this tie, for now, is only a warning to avoid excessive relaxation.
"We did it well. Of course we will lose points (for the rest of the season), but the way we behaved today was very good.", valued City coach Josep Guardiola.
"People will say the Premier League race is undecided and that’s good for this team.", pointed out the Catalan coach.
Since their 2-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace at the end of October, City had won every game in the Premier League. The streak remains at twelve, after breaking with the tie this Saturday.
Manchester City now has a 12-point lead over Liverpool (2nd), who have played two fewer games, one of which will be played on Sunday at Crystal Palace (13th).
Compared to Chelsea (3rd), City is 13 points ahead. The ‘Blues’ receive Tottenham (6th) on Sunday in a London derby.
Southampton (12th) is installed in the quiet zone of the classification.
Manchester United fourth
At Old Trafford, a goal from Marcus Rashford in the final discount (90+3) allowed Manchester United to beat a direct rival, West Ham, 1-0, from whom they snatched fourth place in the standings.
When everything seemed to lead to a distribution of points, a counterattack gave the victory to the ‘Red Devils’, with a goal from Rashford after an assist from Uruguayan Edinson Cavani.
"The atmosphere (in the locker room) was incredible. The boys were celebrating, with full justification, they know it was a great victory"United manager Ralf Rangnick celebrated.
Manchester United now has 38 points, one more than West Ham, which drops to fifth place.
For their part, Wolverhampton (8th) came closer to the fight for European places by winning 2-1 at Brentford (14th) with a decisive goal from the Portuguese Ruben Neves in minute 78, in a game that had an interruption of some twenty minutes by the appearance of a drone on the lawn. The crash was stopped until it was verified that it did not pose a security risk.
In the lower part of the table, Newcastle (18th) approached the safety zone with a 1-0 victory, with a goal by Jonjo Shelvey (74), at the ground of Leeds United (15th), who now remain with seven points above the relegation places.
Aston Villa (10th) also won 1-0 as a visitor, who settled in the quiet zone, on Everton’s ground (16th), with a goal from Argentine Emiliano Buendía after a corner kick (45+3).
When the players of the Birmingham team celebrated the goal, a plastic bottle thrown from the stands hit Frenchman Lucas Digne, a former Everton player until a few days ago, and Matty Cash, and the game was stopped for a few seconds.
Everton, who sacked Spanish manager Rafael Benítez a week ago, are just four points above the relegation zone.
.
