Erling Haaland suffers wasted trip as Man City mocked at Southampton

After so many steps forward, here was the first one back for Manchester City in a while. Pep Guardiola's side remain unbeaten since early March in all competitions but were mocked with chants of "Who are ya" at full-time as gleeful Southampton fans celebrated their point.

Southampton was the last game City were unbeaten for back in October, although how hard they were made to work by Russell Martin's doomed side in a 1-0 win was an indication that all was not well with the Premier League champions. Six months on, this was a reminder that however far they have come from their worst moments this season they are still far from their best.

There's no other way to put it when a match against one of the worst teams in Premier League history becomes such a chore. Southampton were never going to make it easy and didn't, happy to give up possession and space in order to pack their box to deny City any room.

In the opening 20 minutes, Pep Guardiola's side made more than 100 passes in the final third with Southampton making just one at the other end. But while Aaron Ramsdale remained unthreatened in their goal, the home side didn't care.

A side without wingers has worked for City over the last month, although in nearly all of these games they have faced opponents who are willing to go at them. Josko Gvardiol, back on the left, was still popping up in the box but there wasn't enough creativity from the forwards.

Erling Haaland is almost always going to be a talking point when he plays and this was certainly interesting as he returned to a team that had found their best form of the season without him. How seamless would it be to drop him into this system - especially against a team that was so deep?

It turned out to be pretty