Riyad Mahrez fires Erling Haaland warning to Man City rivals

Riyad Mahrez has warned Manchester City's rivals that even if Erling Haaland isn't at his best there's still more than enough firepower in the Blues' ranks to beat teams.

That proved to be the case on Saturday as City climbed to the top of the Premier League table after defeating Southampton 4-0. Despite the Saints' successful early efforts to disrupt Pep Guardiola's side, it didn't take long for them to take the lead.

Joao Cancelo got a fine opener with a brilliant solo goal before Phil Foden's hot streak continued as he grabbed the second. Mahrez himself claimed the third with a nicely-struck volley just after the break.

Also read: City player ratings as Cancelo outstanding vs Southampton

Haaland was desperate to get in on the act himself but hadn't been his usual clinical best in the match, hitting the post in the opening 45 minutes and allowing a chance to go begging after being unable to sort out his feet. However, just as it seemed like he wouldn't, he inevitably did get his goal to round off the scoring.

Though the Norwegian sensation eventually continued his remarkable scoring run, the fact that City had the game won beforehand shows that he isn't being relied upon according to Mahrez. "Haaland is part of our team, he is our striker," he told BBC Sport.

"Like any other striker, if we can find him it's perfect because he is on fire. If not, there are a lot of players and everyone can make a difference. We have to keep going with the momentum."

Mahrez admits it was a difficult game at points but was happy with how the Blues controlled proceedings. He added: "It was a difficult game, we made it easy by scoring early and then we controlled. We had a lot of chances to score more but we didn't. We didn't concede