Man City may have exposed a weakness to Bayern Munich despite empathic Southampton win

Grealish reaches new heights

It seems a distant, strange memory now but even towards the end of last year there were still questions hanging above Jack Grealish's head as he continued to struggle to reach the heights expected of him at Manchester City. Those days are long forgotten now, though, as the forward has now firmly established himself as an undroppable presence in Pep Guardiola's side.

His goal against Southampton was the first time he has scored in back-to-back games for City and while the stat itself is pretty meaningless it does show the consistently high level he is now playing at. Grealish was excellent on the south coast, beguiling in possession and such a driving force up the pitch. A tidy assist for Erling Haaland's stunning overhead kick put the cherry on top.

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

A risk pays off

Winning every Premier League game is obviously crucial as the battle with Arsenal rages on. Still, Guardiola did take a bit of a risk in naming such a strong side ahead of Tuesday's visit of Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. Throwing Haaland straight into the starting XI was certainly a bold call.

The Norwegian had just recovered from a three-week layoff with a groin injury and it would have been a disaster had he reaggravated the problem ahead of such a crucial run-in. Yet, everything went brilliantly. City had the game all sewn up by the hour mark and that meant Haaland, as well as Rodri, Nathan Ake, Riyad Mahrez and John Stones were all taken off and wrapped in bubble wrap ahead of facing Bayern. Add the strong warning sent to the Bundesliga champions with the performance, City couldn't have hoped to prepare any better.

Ruben the