Manchester City: John Stones and Ruben Dias star in watertight defence
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Manchester City have conceded six goals in 11 league games since losing 5-2 to Leicester in September
While Manchester City's struggles in front of goal continued in victory against Southampton, their hopes of mounting a Premier League title challenge remain intact courtesy of a watertight defence.
Following their 1-0 victory at St Mary's on Saturday afternoon, no side has conceded fewer goals in the competition than the 12 of Pep Guardiola's side after 13 games.
Though West Brom's equaliser in a frustrating 1-1 draw in midweek ended a run of 608 minutes without conceding in all competitions - and left them ninth in the table - their latest shutout was their eighth clean sheet in their past nine.
Marshalled by £65m signing Ruben Dias and England international John Stones once more against Southampton - the latter absent on Tuesday - City's sixth clean sheet in 2020-21 is also a Premier League best.
Dias proving worth
Against a Southampton side that had scored at least twice in each of their past seven Premier League home games, 23-year-old Portugal international Dias and Stones, 26, held firm under pressure to ensure their side returned to winning ways and reduced the gap to the top four.
Only in the most recent seasons City won the the title, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, have they conceded fewer goals and kept more clean sheets at this stage of the season under Guardiola, having conceded 14 after 13 games as they finished 18 points behind champions Liverpool last season.
"Defensively we were excellent," Guardiola told BBC Sport. "Last season we struggled a lot. Ruben [Dias] has helped us a lot. John [Stones] the last few games has been exceptional."
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The arrival of Dias from Benfica on a six-year deal in September, after an exposed City were thrashed 5-2 by Leicester, completed Guardiola's long search for a right-sided central defender.
Brought in as a direct replacement for club legend Vincent Kompany, who left Etihad Stadium following City's last title triumph, Dias has quickly helped transform his side's defensive fortunes - a 2-0 defeat by Tottenham the only defeat in his young City career.
With Dias in the side, City's average goals conceded per Premier League game in 2020 has almost halved from 0.9 to 0.5, conceding six times in his 11 appearances compared to 18 in 20 without him.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, former England winger Karen Carney said: "As poor as the decision making has been from Manchester City in the attacking third, I must commend the backline. John Stones has been superb, Ruben Dias has been really, really astute and Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo have been consistent as well."
Stones rebuilding England case
Stones, meanwhile, has quietly re-established himself as Guardiola's favoured option alongside Dias, boasting four consecutive league clean sheets due to his absence for the West Brom draw.
Indeed, City have not conceded in Stones' past nine appearances this season - the only blip on his record arriving in their Premier League opener - a 3-1 win against Wolves in September.
Sidelined by injury four times last season and managing only 16 starts in all competitions out of the 59 games City played in 2019-20, Stones currently ranks top for minutes played per team goal conceded in the English top flight this season, with one conceded in 450 minutes of action.
And, indicative of why he was signed for £47.5m from Everton in Guardiola's first transfer window in 2016, Stones' passing accuracy of 95.1% is the highest of any defender in the Premier League.
No longer first choice for club or country, as he was left out of seven league games before his return against Burnley in November and featured just once in the Three Lions' Euro 2020 qualification campaign, Stones has now started six of City's past eight matches in all competitions and his stock appears on the rise once more.
"John Stones will have done a lot of soul searching," former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas told Match of the Day. "I know for a fact he's done a lot of work, had a look at himself and Pep has decided to play him ahead of Aymeric Laporte.
"His performances in his past four games have been exemplary.
"On this type of form he's a player [England manager] Gareth Southgate has to have another look at."
Shortcomings in attack continue
City registered 25 shots but failed to beat West Brom on Tuesday and, though they left the south coast with all three points on Saturday, the narrow margin of victory was the latest reminder of their struggle to convert their dominance into goals.
With Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus unfit and club-record goalscorer Sergio Aguero an unused substitute, Ferran Torres failed to affect the game and took one shot prior to being replaced by Riyad Mahrez after 72 minutes.
Their 19 goals after 13 games is well below the standards set by City during Guardiola's tenure, that tally little over half of the 37 they managed at the same stage of last season when they finished second.
The Citizens have never averaged below two goals per league game under the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, but are currently averaging 1.5.
Guardiola responded "absolutely not" when asked if he was considering a move for a striker in the January transfer window, relying instead on Aguero's eventual long-awaited return to full fitness and Jesus to improve on his record of four shots on target in 630 minutes of Premier League football this term.
Until then, City must rely on a steely defence to ensure they stay in the title race.
Speaking at full-time, Carney added: "John Stones and Ruben Dias are absolutely ecstatic but the forwards of Manchester City look miserable!
"It really was a case of superb defence from City today but the decision making of the frontline was really poor. Credit goes to City's defensive display because it was spot on."
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