Ten-man Manchester City have defeated Southampton 3-0 at St Mary's Stadium this afternoon to climb above their opponents into second place in the Premier League table.
Second-half strikes from Yaya Toure, Frank Lampard and Gael Clichy secured the win for the Citizens, who are now back to within six points of leaders Chelsea.
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The visitors had a penalty appeal waved away after just nine minutes when Sergio Aguero appeared to have been fouled inside the box by Jose Fonte, but referee Mike Jones booked the Argentina international for simulation.
Shortly after the booking, Toure's curling effort from 25 yards was comfortably held by Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Manuel Pellegrini's side survived a scare on 20 minutes when Joe Hart denied Steve Davis with a low save, before Dusan Tadic was thwarted by Eliaquim Mangala.
Stevan Jovetic came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half when his low effort was cleared off the line by Toby Alderweireld on the half-hour mark, and the sides went into the interval goalless.
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It was the Saints who made the brighter start to the second 45 minutes, coming close through Tadic's strike which had Hart diving across his goal, yet the wait for the first goal went on.
The champions soon did make the breakthrough, though, with Toure's shot from 20 yards out taking a slight deflection on its way through to give his side a valuable lead.
Aguero was unable to double City's advantage and add to his own impressive goal tally for the season from close range with 20 minutes remaining, while Jesus Navas dragged a shot of his own wide when played through.
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The missed chances looked as if they may come back to haunt Pellegrini's charges when Mangala was shown his marching orders for a second yellow card 15 minutes from time, but, as Southampton pushed forward, City picked them off on the break.
Firstly, Lampard rounded off a swift counter-attack by firing the ball beyond Forster, before full-back Clichy opened up his account for the club moments later by blasting home from close range.
There was still time for more concern for the Citizens, who were made to finish the game with nine men after skipper Vincent Kompany hobbled off the pitch having picked up an injury late on.
This afternoon's defeat means that Southampton drop down to third place in the league table, while City's resurgence both in Europe and domestically continues with a third successive victory.
Daniel Lewis
