City survive scare to see off Southampton

Trailing with 22 minutes to go, Premier League champions Manchester City FC staged a spirited comeback to defeat promoted Southampton FC 3-2 after rivals Chelsea FC had earlier beaten Wigan Athletic FC 2-0.

Southampton started with optimism and intent but were soon swamped by City's brilliance. Although David Silva missed a 17th-minute penalty, the hosts made amends five minutes before the break when Carlos Tévez latched onto Samir Nasri's through ball and swept in a right-footed finish.

The visitors showed plenty of attacking verve in the early exchanges of the second half and were rewarded for their adventure when substitute Rickie Lambert curled a sumptuous strike beyond Joe Hart (59). Parity felt like paradise, but better was to come when they took a shock lead courtesy of Steven Davis' smart finish (68).

City lifted the gloom four minutes later, Edin Džeko capitalising on a goalmouth scramble and firing the ball into an unguarded net. Three months on from their dramatic title-clinching win against Queens Park Rangers FC, the hosts completed another enthralling triumph when Gaël Clichy's ball was diverted across goal by Daniel Fox, leaving Nasri a simple task.

Also on Sunday, summer recruit Eden Hazard played the magician in the middle to inspire Chelsea to a convincing win. The Belgian international made his mark after two minutes, laying on a perfect pass for Branislav Ivanović to open the scoring. Beguiling Wigan, Hazard then drew a rash challenge in the penalty area and Frank Lampard made no mistake from the spot.