City Held To Frustrating Goalless Draw By Relegated Saints
Relegated Southampton shut out lifeless Manchester City to move past the Premier League record low mark of 11 points with a goalless draw at St Mary’s.
City could have moved level on points with second-placed Arsenal with a win but served up a dismal attacking display a week before their FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.
They stay in third place but the dropped points on the south coast could prove costly in a tight race for a top-five finish and a place in the Champions League next season.
Erling Haaland returned from injury but offered little as Pep Guardiola’s side were content to play at walking pace against an admittedly packed Southampton defence, and looked devoid of ideas for most of the game.
Defender Manuel Akanji headed wide from a corner and Bernardo Silva saw a shot hacked off the line by Saints captain Jack Stephens.
Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was only called into serious action inside the last few minutes, clawing away a header from Ruben Dias before Omar Marmoush rattled the crossbar from long range.
But there were cheers from the stoic home crowd at the whistle as the hosts held on for just a third clean sheet all season.
Southampton were relegated in early April and sacked Ivan Juric, their second manager this season, 24 hours later.
They had taken one point at home since November before this match and few would have held hope of taking anything from a City side who had appeared to have found some form.
Interim boss Simon Rusk urged his side to end the season with “as much dignity as possible” and this point at least leaves them as just one of the worst sides in Premier League history.
With games against Everton and Arsenal to come there is a chance for more pride to be restored – though it should be said they were still poor against City.
No Saints player made a tackle until the 18th minute as the visitors were allowed possession and Saints won just 35 of 80 duels.
They failed to have a single shot on target – but the fans still left happy after the final whistle.