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Manchester City 3-2 Southampton

Manchester City get their title defence off to a winning start with a 3-2 win over Southampton this afternoon.

Manchester City have got their Premier League title defence off to a winning start by beating Southampton 3-2 this afternoon.

The hosts should have taken the lead within 20 minutes when Carlos Tevez was brought down inside the penalty area. David Silva stepped up, but his spot kick was poor and comfortably saved by Kelvin Davis.

The champions did take the lead five minutes before the break when Tevez fired past Davis from close range, although replays suggested that the striker was offside.

Tevez came close again before the break, and City picked up where they left off earlier in the second half when Samir Nasri found Edin Dzeko, who could only fire straight at Davis.

The hosts continued to pour forward and squandered good chances through Gael Clichy and Silva, the latter of whom hit the crossbar with his effort.

Then, against the run of play, Southampton grabbed an equaliser through Rickie Lambert's low strike. Things got even better for the Saints with just over 20 minutes left as they took the lead through debutant Steven Davis.

City responded as only champions can, however, and pulled level through Dzeko with 15 minutes left on the clock and almost took the lead a minute later through Tevez.

Dzeko came close again before the hosts got the winner ten minutes from time through Nasri's strike after poor defending from Southampton.

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
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2Manchester CityMan City127232217523
3Chelsea126422314922
4Arsenal126422112922
5Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton126422116522
6Tottenham HotspurSpurs1261527131419
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest125431513219
8Aston Villa125431919019
9Newcastle UnitedNewcastle115331311218
10Fulham125341717018
11Brentford125252222017
12Manchester UnitedMan Utd124441313016
13Bournemouth124351617-115
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham113351319-612
15Everton122551017-711
16Leicester CityLeicester122461523-810
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves122372028-89
18Ipswich TownIpswich121651323-109
19Crystal Palace121561017-78
20Southampton121110924-154


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