Manchester City keep pressure on Liverpool with win over Southampton

Manchester City have moved up to second in the Premier League with a 4-1 win over Southampton.

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Manuel Pellegrini's men are now just a point behind Liverpool, who play tomorrow, with Chelsea playing later this afternoon.

It was the perfect start for City as Yaya Toure put them ahead from the penalty spot three minutes in after a foul on Edin Dzeko.

They almost doubled their lead minutes later through Samir Nasri but the Frenchman fired wide, before Southampton got themselves into the game, missing chances through Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert.

There was bad news for Southampton on 25 minutes as they lost Jay Rodriguez to what looked like a serious knee injury.

Just as City began to dominate, though, the visitors drew level with a penalty of their own as Lambert made no mistake after Pablo Zabaleta had tripped Jack Cork.

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Southampton started to look the more threatening team after that but were undone on the stroke of half time with two goals in three minutes from City.

First, Nasri finished a fine team move despite an offside shout during the build-up, before Dzeko headed in during injury time.

In the second half City remained comfortable. Toure went down looking for another penalty appeal just after the break, before Dzeko and David Silva were denied by good goalkeeping.

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With 10 minutes to go substitute Stevan Jovetic made sure of the win by tapping in from Zabaleta's cross.

There was still time for Toure to strike the post but it did not matter for City, who moved within a point of Liverpool at the top of the league.