Manchester City moved into first place in the Premier League standings with a 3-1 win over Southampton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring for the home side in the ninth minute of the contest after latching on to Raheem Sterling's dangerous ball into the penalty area.
Fabian Delph's deflected shot saw City double their advantage just 11 minutes later, before Southampton responded through Shane Long shortly after half-time.
However, the visitors' hopes of a comeback were dashed in the 69th minute when Aleksandar Kolarov scored to put City out of reach.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Manchester City: 3 (Kevin De Bruyne 9', Fabian Delph 20', Aleksandar Kolarov 69')
Southampton: 1 (Shane Long 49')
Etihad Stadium, Manchester – 54,102
TALKING POINTS
De Bruyne continued to live up to his £55million price tag, notching his seventh goal of the season in all competitions, before setting up Kolarov with a delightful ball for City's third.
The loss saw Southampton drop to 10th place in the Premier League standings and the Saints have a fight on their hands if they hope to keep pace with the other clubs fighting for Europa League places.
WHAT'S NEXT?
City host Hull City in a League Cup quarter-final on Tuesday, before taking on Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Southampton play host to Liverpool in another League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday, before they welcome Aston Villa to St Mary's on Saturday.
TWITTER INSIGHT
Back to winning ways! #mcfcpic.twitter.com/qr1Ej1jfyX
— Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) November 29, 2015Great to get the three points today!! #ComeOnCity!! pic.twitter.com/wAbl8JNvfx
— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) November 28, 2015Glad we got back to winning ways today. Congrats to the team. All about the next game now. #MCFCpic.twitter.com/RhetErWm8K
— Vincent Kompany (@VincentKompany) November 28, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini was happy with his side's performance:
“We started very strong, especially in the first 25 minutes. I was very pleased with the team's reaction.
"We were a little nervous until the third goal, but I'm happy with the performance and the result."
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman lamented his side's sluggish start:
"We had a bad start. If you make those kind of mistakes against City you lose the game.
"We made them strong because we lost so many balls when building up from the back."
STATS SPECIALS
25 - Since the start of last season Kevin De Bruyne has made more assists than any other player in Europe's top five leagues (25). Majestic.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 28, 20157 - Kevin De Bruyne has scored or assisted seven goals in six PL appearances for Man City at the Etihad (3 goals, 4 assists). Maestro.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 28, 201537 - Manchester City have allowed fewer shots on target against them than any other team in the Premier League this season (37). Wall.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 28, 2015
TEAM LEADERS
Man City
Goals - Sergio Aguero 7
Assists - Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva 6
Clean sheets - Joe Hart 7
Yellow cards - Fernandinho 5
Goals - Graziano Pelle 6
Assists - Sadio Mane 6
Clean sheets - Maarten Stekelenburg 5
Yellow cards - Graziano Pelle 5
Red cards - Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama 1
