Saints fall to last-gasp City defeat

Saints, operating with a five-man defence and two strikers, looked solid throughout whilst carrying a counter-attacking threat with pace on the break.

The visitors even carved out the two best chances of the first half, only to fall behind to Kevin De Bruyne’s deflected free kick two minutes after the restart.

Fraser Forster made important saves from Gabriel Jesus and De Bruyne as City hunted a second, but Oriol Romeu pounced after a fine piece of play from substitute Sofiane Boufal to equalise with 15 minutes to go.

It looked like being enough to earn a point at the home of the runaway Premier League leaders, only for Sterling to curl in a heart-breaking winner in the sixth minute of added time.

Mauricio Pellegrino made five changes to his side, despite Sunday’s comprehensive 4-1 victory over Everton at St Mary’s.

The Saints boss switched to a 5-3-2 formation, with Maya Yoshida, Mario Lemina, Nathan Redmond, Shane Long and Romeu all handed opportunities from the start.

Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse, Dušan Tadić, Sofiane Boufal and Charlie Austin were the unlucky quintet to miss out.

The game plan was clear. Saints were content to sit deep, with the midfielders cutting off spaces between the lines, but brave enough to leave Redmond and Long forward to pose a counter-attacking threat.

It was a tactic that threatened to pay dividends in the 15th minute, as Long escaped and crossed low towards his strike partner, only for Vincent Kompany to concede a corner.

From Ryan Bertrand’s delivery, Yoshida flicked on and Wesley Hoedt somehow contrived to head against the crossbar from no more than five yards.

It was a golden chance, but Saints could easily have found themselves behind within a matter of seconds, as City broke at frightening speed.

Sterling forced Forster to parry his shot, before Jesus reacted quickest on the rebound to send Forster stooping at his near post.

The Saints keeper was called upon to make another fairly routine stop, this time from Fernandinho, before De Bruyne’s fierce cross was headed over by Nicolas Otamendi from close range.

Having been contained in the early part of the game, City were beginning to purr. Forster denied Jesus with his legs and breathed a sigh of relief when Ilkay Gundogan sent the follow-up into the side-netting.

Saints may have been conceding the bulk of possession, but still posed a threat on the counter-attack. 

Redmond combined with Lemina, who won a corner when Ederson shovelled his shot wide of the near post.

Set-pieces were presenting a problem for the hosts, who were worried again when Virgil van Dijk nodded down Redmond’s corner and Yoshida instinctively volleyed over from another very kind opening.

But all Saints’ good work would come undone just 77 seconds into the second half, as De Bruyne whipped in a free kick at pace from the left towards Otamendi that beat Forster via the shin of van Dijk at the near post.

Pellegrino spoke before kick-off about the need to stay in the game as long as possible, and Forster played his part by making his two best saves to date in quick succession.

First Sergio Aguero fed Jesus, who was impressively denied one on one by Forster’s outstretched left hand, before De Bruyne’s 25-yarder was plucked out of the top corner by the big shot-stopper.

Pellegrino introduced Boufal for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in a bid to turn the tide, but sustained possession was proving even harder to come by since the opening goal.

There was always a chance Saints would get one opportunity to strike back, which duly arrived 15 minutes from time.

Bertrand’s deep cross from the left was brilliantly taken in his stride by Boufal, who skipped away from Kompany and pulled the ball back for Romeu, who kept his head to equalise with an emphatic finish off the underside of the crossbar from ten yards.

Pellegrino lost Cédric to injury with three minutes left, prompting a tactical reshuffle as Sam McQueen entered the fray, but Saints looked like holding on until Sterling curled home from 20 yards to spark jubilant scenes at the Etihad.

Head to Head Stats

• Possession (%)
  74

  26
• Shots
  26

  7
• Shots on target
  12

  2
• Corners
  6

  5
• Passes Complete
  668

  157