Manchester City maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a last-gasp win against Southampton.Raheem Sterling produced his party-trick of scoring a late goal as City triumphed 2-1 thanks to a 96th-minute strike.It sent the Etihad into delirium with players and staff alike invading the pitch after Sterling’s beautiful strike.Benjamin Mendy - who recently suffered an ACL injury - was seen running down the pitch to get involved in the celebrations and was even managed to take a selfie with the match winner.

And their manager was also going mental.

Guardiola had to apologise for his jubilant celebrations after the match as his side picked up their second late win in the space of three days.

But it wasn’t Guardiola’s celebrations that made headlines after the game. It was the fact he was seen in a heated discussion with Southampton’s Nathan Redmond at full-time.

At first, football fans were confused but the Spanish boss soon revealed exactly what he was saying.

"I was telling Nathan Redmond how good he is at the end,” he said.

“Southampton have some super talented players, Redmond is so good one against one. But they didn't want to play, they were time wasting from the ninth minute. I just wanted them to play."

It's certainly a very strange way to praise a player…

Harry Winter's theory

However, respected journalist, Henry Winter, has an interesting theory.

He’s realised that Southampton have fixtures against City’s rivals in December and Winter believes he was just trying to give the Englishman a boost of confidence ahead of those fixtures.

“Guardiola telling Redmond how good he is is well-timed when Southampton have games in December against Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs & Manchester United,” Winter wrote.

Interesting. Very, very interesting.

City’s title rivals know they can’t afford any slip-ups over the Christmas period and, if Redmond and Southampton can pick up a few points against those four teams, City could be entering the New Year with one hand on the Premier League trophy.

We’re not quite sure what Redmond thought of Guardiola’s dressing-down and it’s unsure how he will react in the coming weeks - but Guardiola will be hoping he can do his side a few big favours.