Manchester City went top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 victory over Southampton on Saturday.
The Citizens beat the Saints courtesy of an early Erling Haaland goal at the Etihad Stadium.
It was perhaps not the performance that most were expecting, considering Southampton had shipped a lot of goals heading into this game.
Many felt Manchester City would sweep aside Southampton, as they did with Sparta Prague in the Champions League in midweek.
But in the end, it was only a one-goal margin. With Arsenal and Liverpool playing against each other today though, the only thing that mattered was winning.
On Match of the Day last night, Alan Shearer shared how he currently feels about this Manchester City side.
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City are still not firing on all cyllinders.
But it is perhaps going to take a fair bit of time for the team to adapt without Rodri and also Kevin De Bruyne, although the Belgian will hopefully be back soon.
Fans won’t mind too much so long as wins are being ground out.
Alan Shearer was on hand to analyse City last night on Match of the Day – and most will probably agree with the Premier League legend’s sentiments.
He said: “It’s just because they have set such ridiculously high standards and we may be nitpicking. They’ve made harder work out of it in a few games. They’ve gone behind in a few games.
“No Rodri, no De Bruyne. But then you look at the last six results and they have gone behind. But they’ve somehow found a way to get back. I think once they go deeper into competitions, then they will miss Rodri more than what they have done up to now.
“But you can’t deny they’re an incredible team.”
Man City deserve serious credit right now
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City deserve major props for what they are doing at the moment.
The club and fans were rocked when Rodri sustained that knee injury meaning he’ll be out for the whole season. He is such an integral player, but so far, City have managed fairly well without him in terms of picking up results.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  Man CityManchester City | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 23 |
| 2 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 21 |
| 3 |  Aston VillaAston Villa | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 18 |
| 4 |  ArsenalArsenal | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 17 |
| 5 |  BrightonBrighton | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| 6 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 16 |
The loss of De Bruyne could also have been very damaging, but City are still getting points on the board.
City have not hit top gear yet as a result of losing two massively important players, so that’s why it’s really impressive to see the team still winning.
Teams are not making it easy, but clearly the collective mentality is getting City over the line.
What will be key for City in the coming weeks is for the defence to be nice and solid. Against Southampton, City got their first clean sheet in the league since the first game against Chelsea.
If that backline can start producing more clean sheets, then City will make life much more comfortable for themselves.
