10 Things We Learned From The English Premier League Football Weekend (23-25 Sept 2017)

6. ...On Goal Difference

A mundane game, this, but one useful in defining Jose Mourinho for those somehow unaware of the most successful and controversial coach in modern football.

His teams are austere and clinical, and this was an austere and clinical performance. There was no City-style incision leading to Romelu Lukaku's sole decider. Nemanja Matić slowly eroded Southampton's midfield with patient persistence. Ashley Young seemed to dilly-dally over his delivery - but with a forward as brutish and free-scoring as Lukaku, all you need to do is knock it, with pace, in his general vicinity. Almost all; not for the first time this season, he needed two bites to finish the job after great work by Fraser Forster. That Lukaku still has fairly sizeable room in which to improve must be a worry for Man City fans. The man is squandering as many chances as he's scoring. If he develops yet further, the seemingly injury-proof Belgian might make the difference. His side have already shown, after absorbing significant pressure from a quietly classy Southampton team, that they can handle the pressure.

Mourinho is also an absolute hothead, a trait perhaps inherited by the homeland of mentor Bobby Robson - but stepping onto the pitch wasn't his most obnoxious transgression, let's face it.