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Manchester City 3-2 Southampton

Manchester City get their title defence off to a winning start with a 3-2 win over Southampton this afternoon.

Manchester City have got their Premier League title defence off to a winning start by beating Southampton 3-2 this afternoon.

The hosts should have taken the lead within 20 minutes when Carlos Tevez was brought down inside the penalty area. David Silva stepped up, but his spot kick was poor and comfortably saved by Kelvin Davis.

The champions did take the lead five minutes before the break when Tevez fired past Davis from close range, although replays suggested that the striker was offside.

Tevez came close again before the break, and City picked up where they left off earlier in the second half when Samir Nasri found Edin Dzeko, who could only fire straight at Davis.

The hosts continued to pour forward and squandered good chances through Gael Clichy and Silva, the latter of whom hit the crossbar with his effort.

Then, against the run of play, Southampton grabbed an equaliser through Rickie Lambert's low strike. Things got even better for the Saints with just over 20 minutes left as they took the lead through debutant Steven Davis.

City responded as only champions can, however, and pulled level through Dzeko with 15 minutes left on the clock and almost took the lead a minute later through Tevez.

Dzeko came close again before the hosts got the winner ten minutes from time through Nasri's strike after poor defending from Southampton.

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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City4400113812
2Arsenal431061510
3Newcastle UnitedNewcastle431063310
4Liverpool43017169
5Aston Villa43017619
6Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton42206248
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest42204228
8Chelsea42118537
9Brentford42026606
10Manchester UnitedMan Utd42025506
11Bournemouth41215505
12Fulham41214405
13Tottenham HotspurSpurs41126424
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham411256-14
15Leicester CityLeicester402257-22
16Crystal Palace402247-32
17Ipswich TownIpswich402227-52
18Wolverhampton WanderersWolves4013411-71
19Southampton400418-70
20Everton4004413-90


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