Aymeric Laporte spares Manchester City’s blushes at battling Southampton

It must have felt a little peculiar at full-time for Manchester City, as they left the pitch for the first time without the full complement of points in a Premier League game for the first time since October. They may have failed to extend their winning run to 13 matches but they avoided defeat after Aymeric Laporte headed in a second-half equaliser to open up a 12-point advantage over second-placed Liverpool.

Southampton faded and survived two late VAR calls, the first for a possible penalty when Kevin De Bruyne bobbed towards the box and the second for a red card on Stuart Armstrong. Both seemed sensible calls and the Saints deserved to take something from a lively encounter for their endeavour.

Pep Guardiola is viewed as a magician by so many but here it was almost a case of forecasting the future. Before kick-off he stuck to a familiar script, insisting his team are not invincible and that they would drop points, and reiterating that the most important thing for him is how City react when they do find themselves in a spot of bother.

Rather inevitably, then, with seven minutes gone, just as City were stamping their authority on the game, they trailed to a game Southampton side that seemed intent on being the ones to halt a winning streak that had seen City win their previous 12 matches by an aggregate score of 34-7. It was a fine goal, too. Kyle Walker-Peters motored forward from right-back and played a neat one-two with Nathan Redmond, controlling the return pass with his left foot before, with his next touch, stroking the ball into the far corner with the outside of his right boot.

The galling thing for Guardiola, who at one point found comfort squatting on the edge of his technical area in a black puffer coat and