Sunday, 23 October 2016

Iheanacho earns point for Man City

Super Eagles forward Kelechi Iheanacho strikes in 1-1 draw with Southampton as Manchester City go top of the Premier League table on goal difference. Iheanacho came on as a half-time substitute to score the equaliser to cancel out Nathan Redmond’s 27th-minute opener.

The former Golden Eaglets striker replaced De Bruyne at half-time and within 10 minutes had equalised. A searching cross-field pass from Fernandinho picked out Leroy Sane and Iheanacho charged in to meet his low, left-wing centre.

The result means Manchester City winless run extended to five matches, equalling the worst run of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career.

Southampton took the lead when Redmond pounced on a back pass from John Stones intended for Vincent Kompany, the City captain making his first PL appearance since 19 April, and rounded Claudio Bravo to silence the Etihad Stadium.

Stones thought that he had made amends shortly afterwards when he connected with Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick, only to be denied by a decision against Sergio Aguero, who had strayed offside and attempted to head the ball.

City threatened a second with Ikay Gundogan and Iheanacho thwarted by Forster but City, who move on to 20 points along with Arsenal and Liverpool, had to settle for a point from this third PL match without a win.

City could feel hard done to after dominating possession, particularly in the second half, and having a Stones goal controversially ruled out for offside.

Yet after opening the season with 10 successive wins, the intensity does seem to have dropped temporarily.


After Wednesday’s heavy loss at Barcelona, there was a feeling City needed to make a statement but that did not happen and they could not rouse themselves enough after a subdued first-half performance.

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