Man City player ratings vs Southampton with three 8/10s as Erling Haaland scores

Erling Haaland scored again as Manchester City beat Southampton to move to the top of the Premier League table.

Nothing could match the spectacular effort against Sparta Prague in midweek, but City's No.9 still did well to hold off Jan Bednarek and control a half-volley past Aaron Ramsdale in the opening minutes to get his team off to a perfect start. Southampton had plenty of possession in the first half but will rue Cameron Archer hitting the bar on the only occasion when they got close to Ederson's goal.

City were unable to kill the game despite Haaland going close on a number of occasions but were solid enough defensively to keep the clean sheet. Here is how they rated for their performance.

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Ederson: Had little to do and did it well, with one standard save from Armstrong and did enough when Archer went through. 7

Lewis: Spent a lot of his time playing off Haaland on the edge of the Southampton box, and better defensively as well. 7

Akanji: Increasingly influential moving forward in the post-Rodri part of the season and looked comfortable pushing up. 8

Dias: Caught out when Archer went through and had a disagreement with Guardiola, although otherwise good. 7

Gvardiol: Lots to like as usual but poor to play the ball back into the box in a second-half clearance. 7

Kovacic: Helped out at the back to keep everything in order and went close a few times with shots on the edge of the box. 7

Silva: In the right place at the right time - as he often is - but in a strange game that was on the edge this was even more important. 8

Foden: Looking more and more like the Foden of last season in how he runs games. Not a lot came off but there was still drive and purpose. 7

Savinho: Not at his best from a defensive point of view, irking Foden, but some excellent crosses into the box for Haaland. 7

Nunes: On the money to cross for Haaland early on and another encouraging performance on the left, bustling with energy and tracking back. 7

Haaland: An early goal and very good throughout, going close to a second on a number of occasions and generally being a menace for Bednarek. 8

Substitutes

Gundogan (for Nunes, 87): No time

Stones (for Lewis, 96) Even less time

Not used: Ortega, Carson Ake, O'Reilly, McAtee