Pep Guardiola has vowed tenaciously that his Manchester City side will mount a comeback ‘as best as possible’ after scrambling to a 1-1 draw against a feisty and well-prepared Southampton at St Mary’s on Saturday evening in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
City’s winning run in the Premier League came to an abrupt end on the south coast despite Aymeric Laporte’s second-half header cancelling out Kyle Walker-Peters’ superb early Southampton strike as the Sky Blues were unable to subjugate their gutsy rivals as Guardiola’s side had just one change from the side that beat Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium last weekend, as Ruben Dias replaced John Stones at centre-back.<\/p>\n
A totally lackluster first-half in which Raheem Sterling squandered a glorious opportunity from six-yards out saw Kyle Walker-Peters slam the Saints into the lead with a thunderous effort early into the match.<\/p>\n
Intensively redoubling their efforts early into the second-half, Manchester City found their equaliser through Aymeric Laporte, with the Spain international heading City level after Kevin De Bruyne’s timely cross. However, unable to find a winner, Guardiola’s men had to be content with a draw against the Saints for a second time this season, after drawing 0-0 to Ralph Hasenh\u00fcttl’s side at the Etihad back in September.<\/p>\n
The result has left Guardiola’s side 12 points clear of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, although the Merseyside club have played two games less than City.<\/p>\n
Asked about the Blues’ lead at the top of the table post-match, Guardiola said,\u00a0“I would like to have a 40-point lead ahead of Liverpool, but that is not possible in January. I didn’t expect to have this lead, but now we will rest and come back as best as possible.”<\/p>\n
The Catalan went on to say,\u00a0“We have two weeks to prepare for the next game. People will say the Premier League race is not over and that is good for this side. We have many tough games ahead of us, but we will try to behave until the end.”<\/p>\n
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