Southampton: Che Adams scored from a spectacular long-range lob for his first goal for Southampton to earn a surprising 1-0 win over Manchester City in the Premier League.
Making his 30th appearance of a frustrating first season at the club, Adams pounced on a loose ball after City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko was dispossessed.
Adams struck a curling first-time effort from around 40 meters that sailed over stranded goalkeeper Ederson Moraes and into an unguarded net in the 16th minute. Southampton then relied on a series of wonderful saves by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to consign City to a third straight away defeat in the league — the first time that has happened to a team managed by Pep Guardiola in his distinguished coaching career. City’s players had 26 shots on goal in a one-sided game at an empty St. Mary’s Stadium, but lacked the cutting edge they had in their 4-0 win over Liverpool on Thursday and which might have been provided by top scorer Sergio Aguero had he not been injured.
Kevin De Bruyne and rising star Phil Foden started on the bench and couldn’t inspire an equalizer after coming on as 59th-minute substitutes.
‘City need to improve from similar mistakes’
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola did not criticize his team’s performance after a surprising 1-0 loss at Southampton on Sunday, but admitted they need to improve from too many similar mistakes if they want to win the title next season.
City had 74 percent possession and 26 shots in the game, but it was the hosts who scored the winner by Che Adams, which was totally against the tide of the match, and it was only the first goal by the English forward this season.
“We played really well, but it was a little bit the resume of this season. We make one mistake, they punish us,” said Guardiola.
Adams’ stunning lofted drive from about 30 meters beat Man. City keeper Ederson to send the guests to their third consecutive away loss.
“We lost a lot of games, and losing a lot of games you cannot compete to win the Premier League. We need to improve because it happened many times this season.” (AP)
