- Man City through to FA Cup final
- Southampton gave Citizens a scare
- Game could have gone either way
Manchester City have advanced to the FA Cup final after battling past a Southampton side who made things extremely difficult.
Tijjani Reijnders forced Daniel Peretz to touch the ball onto the post in the opening minutes. However, the offside flag was later raised after Phil Foden also missed an opportunity.
Then after 10 minutes, Omar Marmoush was put through on goal. The Egyptian was not quick enough to get his shot away, allowing the Southampton defender to close him down. It would not have mattered anyway, as the offside flag was once again raised.
Southampton had the ball in the net fewer than two minutes later after a lot of space opened up on the right side of City’s defence, but it was quickly disallowed due to a blatant offside.
Kovacic went on a run in the 19th minute, beating multiple defenders. Sadly, his effort was less impressive and went wide of the left post.
Marmoush found himself with another chance in the 35th minute, but his shot was only good enough to win a corner. Reijnders attempted an overhead kick a moment later, but he did not make sufficient contact with the ball.
It was clear by the end of the half that seeing off Southampton would not be so easy after all, with a goal proving hard to come by.
Half-time: Manchester City 0-0 Southampton
Man City had a second half of ups and downs
City’s creativity looked better early in the second half, but there was a lack of movement from players inside the penalty box. It was therefore no surprise to see Jeremy Doku and Savinho brought on after 57 minutes.
Shortly after these changes, Marmoush took on a shot inside the box, but he leaned back and skied the ball over the bar.
Savinho landed a decent effort on target in the 64th minute, but the goalkeeper did his job with a diving save.
City should really have taken the lead nine minutes later. Nico forced a save, Cherki had a shot blocked and then Reijnders struck his effort wide.
What came next was against the run of play and a real shock to the system for Man City. Finn Azaz struck a beautiful curled effort into the top right corner, leaving James Trafford no chance of making a save.
Southampton immediately began to defend extremely deep and this strategy backfired, as Jeremy Doku soon responded with a deflected shot which found the bottom right corner. Within a minute, Trafford then made a superb stop to keep City on level terms.
Thankfully, Nico Gonzalez came up with a sensational strike shortly before stoppage time, putting the Citizens ahead for the first time.
It should have been three when Peretz abandoned his net, but City took too long to get a shot away. Savinho looked like he would score eventually, but his shot was cleared off the line.
Full-time: Man City 2-1 Southampton
Next up for Man City
The Sky Blues will resume their Premier League campaign on Monday, May 4 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
They will take on Everton, who were just defeated by West Ham at the London Stadium. Kick off is at 8pm BST.
