Southampton and Manchester City were forced to settle for a point on Saturday following a 1-1 draw at St Mary's in the Premier League.
Sergio Aguero's opener was cancelled out by a superb Pablo Osvaldo equaliser in the first half, but neither side could find a winner after the break.
Was it a fair reflection of the match? Sports Mole delves into the details to find out.
Match statistics:
Southampton:
Shots 15
On target 4
Possession 55%
Corners 5
Fouls 6
Manchester City:
Shots 12
On target 3
Possession 45%
Corners 4
Fouls 9
Was the result fair?
On the whole; yes. City controlled the opening stages of the match and nobody could complain when they took the lead through Aguero, but Saints weathered the resulting storm and dominated the remainder of the first period to go in level at the break. The second half was a really 'to and fro' affair, so a point is pretty fair.
Southampton's performance
Having lost three games on the spin, Saints played really well and thoroughly deserved a point. Despite missing key men, they were not afraid to have a go at the City backline, and managed to stay solid enough at the back themselves. They didn't look as if they had suffered from their poor recent form, and Mauricio Pochettino will be pleased with his players' efforts.
Manchester City's performance
City looked as if they were going to run away with it having taken an early lead. They had gone close several times just before breaking the deadlock, and heavily threatened to find a second shortly after. However, they grew sloppy in key moments and were guilty of some bad decision making. Not their worst performance by any means, but Manuel Pellegrini will be disappointed with the manner in which they faded away in the first half.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Luke Shaw: Nobody really stood out too much during this even contest, but Shaw deserves a lot of credit for the way he attacked and defended down the right. He gave Pablo Zabaleta a headache when going on the offensive, and provided several glorious crosses for his teammates. A good afternoon for the young left-back.
Biggest Gaffe
If I had to pick one (which I do), it would probably be Aguero's miss in the first half. It would have made it 2-0 to City, and possibly killed the game off. But after lovely work from Yaya Toure and Zabaleta to create the opportunity, Aguero skied the ball high over the crossbar from the penalty spot.
Referee performance
There wasn't a lot that required Anthony Taylor to pick his brain and award a decision to the delight of one team and despair to the other. He had a pretty good game, but perhaps should have booked Zabaleta late on for deliberately blocking off a rampaging Jay Rodriguez. Other than that, a good performance from the man in the middle.
What next?
Southampton: Saints will look to build on this point when they make the trip to Newcastle United next Saturday.
Manchester City: It's a huge week for City. They pay a visit to Champions League holders Bayern Munich during the week before welcoming Premier League leaders Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Matt Cotton
