Updated at 18.22
SOUTHAMPTON BEAT MAN City 4-2, with Irish international Shane Long among the scorers.
The Tipperary native, who now has scored 100 goals in total in English football, gave his side the lead at St Mary’s, as he got on the end of a Dusan Tadic cross and stabbed the ball home.
It will be pleasing for Irish manager Martin O’Neill to see Long in such good form with the Euros on the horizon — the 29-year-old now has four goals in his last five games and 13 in total this season.
Sadio Mane then doubled the Saints’ advantage, with Tadic again the provider, as the Senegal international latched on to his teammate’s clever through ball before finishing clinically.
Nevertheless, City gave themselves hope on the brink of half-time, as 19-year-old striker Kelechi Iheanacho pounced on a loose ball just inside the box to head home and reduce the deficit.
However, Mane then restored his side’s two-goal advantage, slotting home from close range, after Virgil van Dijk’s header from a corner had come back off the crossbar.
Mane subsequently completed his second hat-trick of the season on 69 minutes, as he latched on to Tadic’s through pass before finishing calmly past Joe Hart.
On 78 minutes, Iheanacho got his second of the afternoon, with a terrific curling strike from the edge of the box, but it was little more than a consolation for a sub-par City outfit.
Man United fans will be pleased with the Saints’ victory today, having drawn with Leicester earlier, with the Red Devils currently trailing City by four points but with a game in hand.
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