Pep Guardiola delighted with Man City’s ‘incredibly important victory’ at Southampton

Raheem Sterling’s first-half goal was enough to earn all three points

Man City manager Pep Guardiola (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Pep Guardiola hailed Manchester City's narrow 1-0 win at Southampton as an "incredibly important victory" as they returned to winning ways at St Mary's.

Raheem Sterling turned home a Kevin De Bruyne cross to give City an early lead and they were able to hold on to secure all three points after back-to-back Premier League draws.

Guardiola's men looked resolute at the back throughout, although they have yet to hit their stride going forward and have amassed just 19 goals from their first 13 Premier League games this season, but the manager was proud of his side's performance.

"They were brilliant, nothing to say, because we know exactly which team we faced tonight, how good they are, strong, the build up with the four is so so good and after they put in a lot of players to run in behind," Guardiola said about Southampton.

"We had a fantastic team, an incredibly important victory for us, to climb some positions in the table, for our mood and our momentum isn't as good up front.

"Sometimes we could not control the game, they were able to - they had enough chances in the second half to score more goals with our momentum but our back four were brilliant with Rodrigo and (Ilkay) Gundogan as well.

"So this is a good victory for us."

PA