Brutal chants at Southampton hide a familiar Man City sign emerging

Erling Haaland scores goals - and Kevin De Bruyne makes them.

Manchester City's top scorer returned in style after missing the win over Liverpool, going straight into the starting lineup at the expense of Julian Alvarez and scoring twice to emphasise why it is that he plays whenever he is fit. Thirty goals before Easter in the Premier League is frightening and an early substitution tees him up nicely for the visit of Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

City's 4-1 win at Southampton was due in a big way to De Bruyne though, who made more Premier League history in a performance that showed just how relevant he remains to his team's success. If the intention is for Haaland to spearhead Pep Guardiola's assault on three titles, De Bruyne once again looks like the red-faced alchemist making the magic happen.

Also read: City player ratings vs Southampton in 4-1 win

At this time of the season, pretty much every game matters (unless you are Chelsea). City were looking to close the gap on Arsenal at the top but Southampton have to make sure they do not get cut adrift at the bottom in what looks like being one of the tightest relegation battles in years.

For whatever reason, City games at St Mary's have tended to be more significant than at most other grounds under Guardiola. From the last-second Gabriel Jesus goal to crown the Centurions in 2018 through the start of their title-winning run in the 2020/21 season right up to the shock cup exit to Nathan Jones's side in January this year - one of the worst performances in seven years under the manager that left serious questions over their trophy-winning credentials this season.

Those have mostly been answered in the time since, a run of nine wins and two draws in all competitions since