Battles against bottom sides show how tough Premier League is – Ruben Dias

Ruben Dias believes the sides at the bottom of the Premier League have shown Manchester City how tough it will be to defend their title this season.

The champions laboured to a 1-0 victory over winless Southampton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, a result that left the visitors at the foot of the table with just one point from nine games.

That came after John Stones scored an injury-time winner to see off dogged Wolves, who also had just one point at the time, at Molineux the previous weekend.

City defender Dias said: “I think you need nothing else to say about (how tough) the Premier League (is).

“I think it’s the best example – Southampton and Wolves, one point each they had. They’re last, and this is the level.

“Of course, three points, clean sheet, we’re very happy. We could have scored many more, but sometimes it goes that way.”

City have now gone 35 home games unbeaten in the Premier League since losing to Brentford in November 2022, a run that is now guaranteed to exceed two years. They also extended their club record unbeaten league run to 32 matches.

They were expected to see off struggling Saints comfortably and it looked like they could rack up a big win after Erling Haaland wrestled past Jan Bednarek to open the scoring after just five minutes.

They created numerous other chances but were unable to take advantage, with Haaland, who had several of them himself, guilty of one particularly glaring miss from close range.

That allowed Southampton, who did enjoy some good possession, to stay in the game, but, although Cameron Archer hit the crossbar on the stroke of half-time, City goalkeeper Ederson was largely untroubled.

City midfielder Bernardo Silva said: “We have a lot of respect for all the teams in the Premier League.

“I think they deserve a lot more points than what they’ve got. We had our chances, but they deserve a lot of credit for what they did.”

Southampton’s frustration was compounded by a booking for under-pressure manager Russell Martin, who will now serve a touchline ban in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Stoke.

After that, Saints play league games against Everton and Wolves which veteran midfielder Adam Lallana admits are crucial.

The former England midfielder told the club’s website, southamptonfc.com: “We didn’t dominate the ball, we didn’t have the better chances in the game, but there were definitely moments, especially in the first half, where I felt we imposed ourselves against the best team in the world.

“We have to take the positives. We have to look at those moments and gain belief from that and take them into the rest of the season and especially the next fortnight, which is obviously huge for us.”