Southampton 1-4 Man City (Laporte og 45+2′ | Sterling 12′, De Bruyne 61′ pen, Foden 75′, Mahrez 78′)
Manchester City eased their way into the semi-finals of the FA Cup to keep alive their hopes of winning the treble this season.
Phil Foden‘s stunning goal was the highlight of an ultimately comfortable victory that saw the Premier League leaders finally get the better of a side who have twice held them to a draw this season.
Raheem Sterling, the outstanding Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez also got in on the act at the St Mary’s Stadium where Saints were given hope by Aymeric Laporte’s own goal that saw the sides level at half-time.
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That proved to be the case when City headed straight up the other end, and when Jack Stephens failed to clear his lines, Sterling was there to punish the mistake, thumping the ball past Fraser Forster on 12 minutes.
It looked as though City would not be looking back as, thanks to De Bruyne prompting, they broke forward at will but Southampton’s high-energy pass-and-move game ensured there was hardly a dull moment.
Shane Long and Armstrong and diligently followed waist-coated manger Ralph Hasenhuttl’s orders to harry City’s defence, and their non-stop efforts finally paid dividends with Laporte’s own goal two minutes into first-half stoppage time.
Player ratings
Southampton (4-4-2):
- Forster – 7
- Livramento – 7
- Stephens – 5
- Salisu – 5
- Walker-Peters – 7
- S. Armstrong – 6
- Romeu – 6
- Ward-Prowse – 7
- Elyounoussi – 7
- Long – 6
- A. Armstrong – 6
Subs:
- Broja – 6
- Adams – 6
- Djenepo – 6
- Diallo – N/A
- Smallbone – N/A
Man City (4-3-3):
- Steffen – 6
- Walker – 7
- Stones – 6
- Laporte – 6
- Cancelo – 7
- De Bruyne – 8
- Rodri – 7
- Gundogan – 6
- Sterling – 7
- Jesus – 7
- Grealish – 6
Subs:
- Mahrez – 6
- Foden – 6
- Zinchenko – 6
- Ake – 6
- Fernandinho – 6
Armstrong set the ball rolling with a through-ball to Mohamed Elyounoussi who capitalised on goalkeeper’s Zack Steffen hesitancy to knock the ball into the goalmouth where it was deflected in Laporte.
Saints began the second half as they ended the first by maintaining the pressure on City’s defence. That approach even got to De Bruyne whose misjudgment allowed James Ward-Prowse to force a good save from Steffen.
The hosts finally ran out of steam and found themselves behind when Salisu clumsily fouled Jesus just inside the penalty box and De Bruyne’s spot-kick beat Forster’s dive to his right on 62 minutes.
Che Adams, on for Armstrong should have equalised but thumped a shot straight at Steffen and that was as good as it got for Saints.
Foden put clear water between the two sides with a thunderous 20-yard strike on 75 minutes before fellow substitute Mahrez beat Forster with a clever low shot three minutes later.
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