LONDON (Reuters) - Samir Nasri struck an 80th minute winner as Manchester City came from behind to begin the defence of their Premier League title with a patchy 3-2 win over promoted Southampton on Sunday.
In similar scenes to May when they came back to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 to seal the title, City went ahead through Carlos Tevez in the first half only for Southampton substitutes Rickie Lambert and Steven Davis to stun the home crowd.
Edin Dzeko then
equalised following a corner and France midfielder Nasri took advantage
of some lax defending to ram the ball home for Roberto Mancini's men, who lost Sergio Aguero to an early knee injury and missed a penalty through David Silva.
New Chelsea winger
Eden Hazard earlier lived up to all the hype inside the first seven
minutes of his league debut by setting up both goals in a 2-0 win at
Wigan Athletic.
First he expertly
turned marker Ivan Ramis to release right back Branislav Ivanovic, who
ran in and coolly slotted home in the second minute having been allowed
to play despite a red card in the 3-2 Community Shield loss to City last
Sunday.
Hazard then danced
his way into the box and was carelessly upended by error-prone Wigan
debutant Ramis, leaving Frank Lampard to slam in the seventh-minute
penalty.
Manchester United and new striker Robin van Persie open their 2012/13 campaign at Everton on Monday (1900 GMT).
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