Southampton took an early lead with the help of a series of Alex McCarthy saves, as Manchester City was unexpectedly beaten. Che Adams ended his wait for a Premier League first goal with a stunning long-range shot to see Southampton secure a shock 1-0 over Manchester City.
Adams made his 25th top-flight appearance for Saints since his £15million signing just over a year ago but he picked up a fine time to break his duck.
City rested Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden, among others, from the beginning after midweek smashing Liverpool champions and losing fluency at St Mary’s, while Adams’ wonderful finish followed a flurry of chances for Pep Guardiola’s people.
But goalkeeper Alex McCarthy was inspired and the hosts kept on giving City the ninth league loss from their season, and they’re third in a row away from home.
The second-placed team was forced to pay for their poor start when Stuart Armstrong grabbed the possession of Oleksandr Zinchenko halfway and the ball went for Adams to sweep a magnificent 40-yard attempt through the stranded Ederson into a gaping net – without a goal since April 2019.
The pressure was then placed on Southampton ‘s goal, where McCarthy watched Gabriel Jesus miss the goal from proximity to the job.
McCarthy parried in a frenzied spell from Raheem Sterling, dived after a shot by Fernandinho which bounced off the post and then leaped back to his feet to repel David Silva’s header brilliantly.
Riyad Mahrez was next to find the insured keeper blocking his way before a diving Danny Ings volleyed wide when he should have doubled Saints’ lead just before half-time.
McCarthy was at it again after the interval, holding Jesus’ header out and then smothering after a pass from Silva to Zinchenko.
De Bruyne and Foden soon arrived from the bench, but the withdrawals of Mahrez and Sterling just seemed to further damage City and Ederson had to avoid an Armstrong blast as his side stuttered to a shock loss despite exerting a lot of pressure late.
