Jack Grealish ‘waited in the tunnel’ to confront Southampton’s Oriol Romeu

A furious Jack Grealish was ‘waiting in the tunnel’ to confront Southampton star Oriol Romeu after the pair clashed in Manchester City’s draw at St Mary’s on Saturday.

The £100million England star was embroiled in a heated exchange with the former Chelsea midfielder during the second half of the breathless 1-1 draw on the south coast.

Romeu brought Grealish down and then appeared to stand over him and direct some words towards the former Aston Villa forward, who was holding his ankle after the incident.

The Spanish midfielder fouled the City star and then stood over and direct words at him

Grealish reacted furiously and quickly got up off the deck and tried to confront Romeu

But Grealish quickly rose to his feet and chased down Romeu before shoving him in the back. The pair were quickly separated by their team-mates and play resumed. 

However, speaking at the full-time whistle, Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl revealed Grealish was waiting for Romeu in the tunnel to make his frustration at the challenge clear.

The Austrian did, however, insist that the pair settled their differences away from the pitch. 

He told Sky Sports: ‘They had a discussion with Ori, because Grealish was waiting for him in the tunnel because of a few things that happened outside on the pitch that was not right.

‘But it’s not here for the cameras, they spoke about it, everything’s good.’ 

A surprise early opener from Saints defender Kyle Walker-Peters helped them to a point

Runaway leaders Manchester City were denied a 13th Premier League victory after being held to a 1-1 draw by the battling Saints.

Aymeric Laporte headed a 65th-minute equaliser for Pep Guardiola’s men following a surprise early opener from Saints defender Kyle Walker-Peters.

Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus struck the same post in the second period but City were unable to find a winner during incessant pressure as they failed to win a top-flight game for the first time since a shock 2-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace way back in late October.

The result leaves the reigning champions 12 points clear of second-placed Liverpool, albeit having played two games more, ahead of a 17-day break from top-flight action.

Ralph Hasenhuttl heaped praise on his Southampton team after they took points off City again

Speaking about the game, Hasenhuttl added: ‘They (City) are so good, they are so unbelievably good. If you want to press them they always find solutions and I must say we were amazing defensively. 

‘I think we had to do more deep defending than in the whole season together. Around the box, balls are flying in. Unbelievable saves from Fraser [Forster] today.

‘It was a simple situation with the goal for us and then there was good chances in the second half, we had the chance for a second goal from [Armando] Broja. He was a big problem for us. 

‘We are super proud of what we did today against an amazing good team. Pep doesn’t like to draw against a team like us and we did a good job today.’