Seventh heaven

> Guardiola hails City’s magnificent seven

PEP GUARDIOLA believes Manchester City produced the best performance of his reign in their swaggering 7-2 thrashing of Stoke City on Saturday.

Kevin De Bruyne was outstanding, producing two assists and playing a part in three more goals as City scored seven goals for the first time since Guardiola took charge in July 2016.

It was the first time City had scored that many in a league match since defeating Norwich 7-0 in November 2013, with Gabriel Jesus scoring twice, and further goals from Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Fernandinho, Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva.

Victory put City two points clear at the top of the Premier League, and left Guardiola struggling to find fault, although he was disappointed that his side conceded goals either side of halftime, with Stoke’s first from Mame Biram Diouf, and the second a Kyle Walker own goal.

“You can always do better but I cannot deny that today was the best performance since I arrived here. We played a good 45 minutes, and maybe more than that,” he said.

“Except for two actions which we have to learn more about, we produced a really good performance from everybody.

“After the international break, it can be a bit complicated, but we did really well. So we played quick because we played simple.

“I’m very pleased because we won, and especially with the way we won.”

De Bruyne’s performance was complimented by both Guardiola and Stoke manager Mark Hughes, who described the Belgium midfielder as the best player