Saints have block party

GUARDIOLA'S FRUSTRATED AS SIMON SWERVES RECORD-LOW POINTS TALLY

- By Neil McLeman

SAINTS caretaker boss Simon Rusk did not exactly school Pep Guardiola with a tactical masterclass at sunny St Mary's yesterday.

But the Saints interim boss set up the worst defence in the top flight to block sloppy City and the returning Erling Haaland — and earn the huge point to avoid being officially the worst team in Premier League history.

But it needed goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to pull-off three massive second-half saves.

And substitute Omar Marmoush rattled the bar during seven minutes of second-half injury time. But in a poor game between two teams suffering nightmare campaigns, relegated and rock-bottom Saints deserved the draw against the misfiring defending champions.

The point was cheered like winning the Champions League by the Saints crowd starved of almost anything to celebrate this season.

And Ederson denied the home side a ridiculous win when he stopped Cameron Archer's 95th-minute shot - the hosts’ first and only on target. Play like this against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on Saturday and City's terrible season will get even worse.