Man City 4 Southampton 1: Manuel Pellegrini pleased with Saints win

Manuel Pellegrini felt Manchester City were good value for their victory after a comfortable win against Southampton.

Citizens midfielder Yaya Toure had opening the scoring from the spot in the third minute before Rickie Lambert netted his 34th Southampton penalty to level the clash at The Etihad.

I don’t remember Joe Hart making an important save. They had possession but no real chances to score

Manuel Pellegrini

Samir Nasri restored City’s lead although replays showed that David Silva was offside in the lead up to the goal before Edin Dzeko gave City a two-goal cushion.

Second-half substitute Stevan Jovetic sealed three points with a late strike, and Pellegrini was happy that his side prevented the Saints from having a shot on target in open play.

“I haven’t seen it (City’s second goal) yet but it is the referee who decides. I don’t think the difference between the two sides was just one goal,” Pellegrini told BBC Sport.

“Southampton played very well in the first half with lots of possession. We didn’t play well in first half but we scored three goals and had two clear chances to score.

“I don’t remember Joe Hart making an important save. They had possession but no real chances to score.”

Meanwhile, Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino felt the officials’s failure to spot that Silva was offside before the Spaniard teed up Nasri cost the Saints points at Eastlands.

“This action from the linesman for the second goal killed the game, the linesman killed the game. It’s clear that the second goal changed it,” Pochettino said.

“We were superior up that point, we can analyse the game to that point but there is no point after that. It just killed off the game.

“Today we played with young players and we want to keep on growing as a team. The only positive out of the match, though, is that we were superior up to the point of the first goal.”