And here’s James Riach’s match report from St Mary’s:
Full-time: Southampton 4-2 Manchester City
Another excellent performance from Southampton, who out-fought, out-thought and out-played City. In particular, Sadio Mane took his goals very well, two considered finishes and one instinctive one - if he can find some consistency, he could be a serious player because he’s a handful even on a bad day.
City, on the other hand, were weak and slow. If they don’t beat Arsenal next week and Manchester United win all their games - a stretch, granted - they won’t finish in the top four.
Otherwise, thanks all for your comments and company - bye.
Updated
90+2 min In commentary, Alan Parry and Niall Quinn were discussing the mental effect of this defeat on City - of which I’m dubious. If you can’t get intense for a semi-final second leg in the Bernabeu, then you can’t get intense, and Joe Hart’s sense of self won’t suffer simply because of a bad afternoon that wasn’t his fault.
90 min There will be a minimum of four added minutes.
89 min Southampton continue to probe. Though Mane and their attackers will get most of the accolades, Virgil van Dijk has been superb today.
88 min Tadic, who’s had a superb afternoon, gives way to Rodriguez.
86 min Martina is fractionally late on Sterling, so Nasri shoves him - presumably in protest at the unfairness of the system. The ref tells both that they’re naughty boys, and they escape without a card.
85 min City have located some urgency and conviction, but a Southampton goal still looks as likely as another for them.
83 min Iheanacho finds Sterling to his left and he screeches into the box. The return is on, and Bony is on-hand too, but Sterling goes for the shot, which is well blocked by Fonte.
81 min Southampton could be forgiven for sitting back and seeing it out, but they’re after more - again, Long frees Mane, and his low cross whistles across the face of goal.
GREAT GOAL! Southampton 4-2 Manchester City (Iheanacho, 79)
Iheanacho is the only City player who’s done anything today, and what a finish this is! He takes a cut-back off Nasri on the edge of the box, looks up, and bends a left footer over Forster and high into the net towards the far post. He’s a player.
Updated
77 min This game is, I’d say, doner than Ronnie and Samthana.
75 min Jesus Navas’s grandad.
73 min Davis, who’s had a fine afternoon, is replaced by Ward-Prowse.
70 min City are in mither here - if they’re not careful, this is going to become a seriously severe kicking.
Updated
GOAL! Southampton 4-1 Manchester City (Mane, 68)
Mane, Mane, Mane! Virgil slams into a slide tackle, reaching the ball ahead of Iheanacho and finding Long on halfway. He sets Mane away at inside-right, and though he’s forced a little wider than ideal, he keeps the heid and slots home at the near post as Otamendi slides in. Can’t believe it’s taken him 40 whole minutes to complete that hat-trick, the indolent idler.
Updated
66 min Southampton win another left-wing corner, headed up by Bony at the near post. Whereupon Van Dijk flips an overhead kick at goal, forcing Hart to palm over with some consternation. And he’s there again when the next cross arrives, only this time the ball’s punched clear.
65 min Guardian sources tell me that Southampton have no song about Sadio Mane to this. What a world.
64 min Fabian Delph, who was playing, apparently, is replaced by Jesus Navas.
62 min Still no Aguero. We can probably deduce what Manuel Pellegrini reckons to this game.
Updated
60 min “Philosophy FC would need to be managed by the cultured deep-thinking Stoke City gaffer, Marcuse,”, tweets Jamie Woods, quite brilliantly. Is Herbert a preferable name to Leslie?
59 min Clasie is replaced by Romeu. He’s played well.
GOAL! Southampton 3-1 Manchester City (Mane, 57)
That = that. Southampton win a corner on the left, whipped in towards Virgil at the near post. He clunks a header onto Hart’s head and then, courtesy of some fantastic shampoo, the bar. The ferocity of the bounce down takes it away from Kolarov and Fonte, but Mane is there sharplish, hooking a pelvis high ball into the net from close range.
Updated
55 min City free Zabaleta, galloping down the right, and Tadic pulls him back. He’s booked, and somehow considers this to be unfair.
54 min Long holds the ball up on halfway, enticing Eliaquim “Mrs” Mangala into a foul. That’s just what Southampton needed, and very simple behaviour indeed.
50 min Long spell of possession from City, working the ball across the width of the pitch as Southampton sit in - but they can’t work any space, and eventually do well to stop Mane breaking when they give it away.
50 min Superb from Iheanacho, who plays a one-two with Bony then wriggles by Clasie before shooting instead of hitting a return. This does not find favour with his partner - Forster saves comfortably - but that’s better from City.
Updated
48 min On the topic of philosophers, we’ve had a few imaginatively suggest Socrates, as well as Kant(e) and Ashlety Jung.
47 min “Shane Long is a lot like Vardy except he’s been less lucky and he’s been a good premiership striker for 6 years not 6 months”, tweets Dan Friedman.
Not sure about that - Vardy has done brilliantly, that isn’t luck. And Long has never been as devastating as he has this season.
46 min Off we go again.
Naturally, Graeme Souness advocates the starting of arguments in the changing room - “proper pros” like Zabaleta and Joe Hart.
While we wait, email from Gary Hickman: “Your question on philosophers and football reminds me of the monty python sketch Germany vs Greece...”
“Neither Dante nor Virgil was a philosopher,” tweets Stuart Walton. “They were poets”.
Yes they were, but they wrote about ideas as well as images.
Half-time viewing:
That was an excellent half from Southampton. While it’s true that City weren’t really at it, that only became the case once they realised quite how hard they’d be forced to work. In particular, Clasie and Davis have been tenacious in midfield, while Mane’s direct running and intelligent movement has been way too much for, er, Otamendi and Mangala.
But this is still a game - you’d back City to score at least once more, especially if they risk Aguero.
Half-time: Southampton 2-1 Manchester City
...
45+2 min “I find myself distracted by the thought of Southampton purchasing Dante just so he can appear alongside Virgil,” ponders Ian Copestake.
The only context in which philosophy can be used in connection with a football team. Who else would be in?
45 min There shall be two added minutes.
GOAL! Southampton 2-1 Manchester City (Iheanacho, 43)
Iheanacho has the knack. First, he holds the ball up well to find Nasri and then, when the low cross pops up off Fonte, he adjusts to force his neck into a header of sufficient power to pull a goal back.
Updated
43 min Manuel Pellegrini is in a similar position to the one in which Jurgen Klopp found himself earlier today. Does he accept the loss, or bring on some firepower and ballast at half-time?
41 min “A friend commented that Pellegrini doesn’t look too worried about City missing Champions league football next year,” reckons Ezra Cohen’s friend, and it’d be hard to blame him. I wonder if there are any break clauses in Guardiola’s contract - though chances are City will be fine.
40 min “I’m pleased for Shane Long, he seems to be one of he most underrated players in the Premiership,” emails Mark Judd. “Always appears to work his socks off too.”
Yes, I’d agree with that - his bite is giving City real gyp, especially as Mane and Tadic are having good days too.
38 min Gosh, City are severely lacking in fibre and vertebrae; this time it’s Kolarov, selling Hart short with a backpass - he hares out to slam clear. And then again, Nasri dwells on the ball, is mugged by Davis and Clasie, and Southampton sweep forward to earn another corner; it comes to nowt.
36 min With City’s defenders expecting a cross, Martina slots another ball between left-back and centre-back for Mane. With City’s defenders expecting a cross, he cuts back for Clasie, but just behind him, forcing a chip that drops only just over the bar.
35 min “Man City are making Joe Hart look less and less elite by the minute,” snarks Ian Copestake, but I’m not so sure about that. He’s been left high and dry by his defenders for both goals - though you could argue it’s his job to organise them.
34 min Mangala and Otamendi appear absolutely flummoxed by the movement of Mane and Long.
34 min Southampton are all over City now, Long snapping a square ball just behind the rampaging Davis.
32 min Imagining City mustering the stones to come back into this is not at all easy.
GOAL! Southampton 2-0 Manchester City (Mane, 29)
Another very nice goal, this. A City attack breaks down on the edge of the Soutampton box and Wanyama sets Tadic away with a long ball out to the right. With the defenders expecting a cross, instead he slides a ball behind Mangala for Mane, forcing Hart to come out; the finish, lifted over him, is expert.
Updated
28 min If Otamendi thought as hard about his football as he does about his appearance, he’d be a much better player.
27 min Fernandinho, City’s best player against Madrid, has been absolutely abject so far today.
GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Manchester City (Long, 24)
What’s red and white and Long all over? This goal, that’s what. Martina larrups a swinging ball into space for Tadic, pacing down the right. His cross is midriff height, and Otamendi reckons he can just shepherd it back to Hart; as if. Long sneaks up on him, pokes home, and that’s very well done indeed.
Updated
23 min Mane robs Fernandinho in centrefield and finds Davis, who sets Tadic away. His cross is low and Otamendi has no idea that Mane is behind him, leaving the ball to Hart who is only just able to collect.
Updated
21 min Fernandinho is booked for a foul on Davis.
20 min Fantastic save Forster! Iheanacho draws Van Dijk out to the left touchline and skates past, showing serious composure to hang onto possession until the perfect cut-back to Sterling presents itself. His man’s shot isn’t bad either, though it ought to have been better - from close range, Forster manages to shoulder the ball away.
19 min Long sees the ball in the air in centrefield and sets off into the space behind Mangala. Clasie finds him too, and he slaps a low right-footer first time into the near-post side-netting.
17 min Lovely from Southampton Bertrand allowing a ball across his body out on the touchline to guide a first-timer into the path of Tadic. With men charging towards the box, he whipped a low first-time cross towards long, forcing Otamendi to slide behind. The corner came to nothing, but Southampton are coming.
15 min Almost lovely from Southampton, Mane sweeping a first time ball over the defence for Long. But it was slightly too long, allowing Zabaleta to turn it away from him, only to shilly-shally and be robbed. Only for Long to dilly-dally and be robbed in return.
13 min A little flurry of City resulting in a left-wing corner that Kolarov thunks beyond everyone. But his team are improving.
11 min Mane intercepts a poor pass from Fernandinho and heads towards the box, cutting across the pitch from right to left. By the time he gets to a central position he had a man on either side, slippable in, but instead scuffs a shot that’s easily fielded by Hart.
10 min City have had plenty of possession so far, but not created anything, and then Delph loses it to Mane on halfway. He’s all ready to streak away and thump a long-ranger into the top corner, but instead a heavy touch means he’s unloaded justfour yards from where it all began.
8 min Nasri does well coming inside and feeds Zabaleta, who looks for Iheanacho. He’s hustled over the by-line by Fonte, and displeased when the ref awards a goalkick.
6 min Players from both sides are slipping about.
5 min Today is Joe Hart’s 300th Premier League appearance, and, despite how snickerable his persona can be, he is one of only four elite players currently in England. The others, for my money, are Lloris, De Gea and Aguero.
3 min Big afternoon for Raheem Sterling, this - a good game, and he might well get Silva’s spot for the Bernabeu. And he’s loitering at the back post when Zabaleta crosses from the right, but Fonte gets in between him and it and the ball flies past both.
Updated
2 min More pressure from Southampton, Martina cutting back for Mane whose low shot was too close to Hart.
1 min Tadic rinses Zabaleta on the outside and slings over a cross that’s scrambled away.
1 min Southampton get us underway.
The players are in the tunnel, City intimidatingly clad in baby blue tracksyoot tops.
Ronald Koeman hopes City are distracted by their European commitments; Manuel Pellegrini needs a haircut, severely.
Updated
Tangentially, it’ll be interesting to see how Samir Nasri plays today. City haven’t been the same without him, and his ability to retain possession and pass perceptively would be invaluable in the Bernabeu - were he in their European squad.
Updated
Of course, also missing this afternoon is David Silva - he’ll not be involved for a few weeks after hurting himself against Madrid in midweek.
When football was football, etc, etcetera, ad nauseum and so on.
So, Southampton make three changes from their last game - Martina, Mane and Clasie come in - while City leave Sagna, Clichy, Fernando, Navas and Aguero on the bench, with Kompany and De Bruyne not in the squad.
And rightly so, I’d say - though they’d not have known in advance, Manchester United’s draw means that they’ve margin for error in the league.
Updated
Cast and crew:
Southampton (4-3-3): Forster; Martina, Van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand; Clasie, Davis, Wanyama; Mane, Long, Tadic. Subs: Stekelenburg, Yoshida, Rodriguez, Cedrid, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Austin.
Manchester City (4-4-2): Hart; Zabaleta, Otamendi, Mangala, Kolarov; Nasri, Delph, Fernandinho, Sterling; Iheanacho, Bony. Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Clichy, Demichelis, Fernando, Navas, Aguero.
Bloke doing his best: Andre Marriner.
Updated
Preamble
Sometimes, a fixture just looks attractive, and this one is of that ilk. Southampton are decent side in any case, but also in decent form; City are the same, and under pressure. Their spot in next season’s Champions League is not yet secure, and with a visit from Arsenal still to come, they may well need something at St Mary’s.
Not easy at the best of times, and these are not those - well, they are, but they’re also not. On the one hand, after this City travel to Madrid for a Champions League semi-final; on the other hand, after this City travel to Madrid for a European Cup semi-final. So, they can hardly compromise this season’s Champions League prospects to guarantee next season’s, but at the same time, Pep Guardiola will have a stronger squad and isn’t turning up to play Europa League; I wonder where Manuel Pellegrini’s priorities lie.
Kick-off: 16.30 BST
