GUARDIOLA DELIGHTED WITH ‘LEGEND’ AGUERO
Argentine nets twice as Manchester City make it 17 in a row with 4-0 win over Bournemouth
Pep Guardiola paid tribute to Sergio Aguero as Manchester City extended their record-breaking winning run in the Premier League yesterday.
City proved too good for struggling Bournemouth, claiming a 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium to begin the busy festive period in style and extend their run of wins to 17 matches.
It was a milestone day for Argentine striker Aguero, who struck his 100th and 101st goals at City’s home ground, with Raheem Sterling and Danilo also on the scoresheet.
“He is a special player, a legend, and I am so happy when he plays good and he is scoring goals,” Guardiola said to the BBC after Aguero’s contribution. “He made a fantastic performance, not just the two goals but the assist for the second one.”
City’s streak of victories began at Bournemouth in August when England international Sterling scored a stoppage time winner for a 2-1 win.
Guardiola admitted Bournemouth had made life difficult for City again, even after Aguero opened the scoring in the 27th minute with a diving header after getting on the end of Fernandinho’s cross.
But City had to wait until the 53rd minute for their second goal as Sterling ran onto Aguero’s flick to fire the ball home.
Aguero headed the third goal 11 minutes from time from a cross from substitute Bernardo Silva.
Danilo, another player to come off the bench, put the seal on the victory when he fired past Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic after being set up by Sterling.
Guardiola was impressed with the emphatic nature of the scoreline, which moved his side 14 points clear at the top of the table, for at least a few hours with Manchester United playing at Leicester City in yesterday’s late game, particularly given Bournemouth’s desire to sit deep and stifle the hosts. “It was so tough because they play five at the back and 10 players behind,” Guardiola added.
“The space was almost impossible to find and we were lucky to score the first goal. The last 20 minutes they push up and after then we played a real good game.”
Even though City have swept all before them in the first half of the season, other than a 1-1 draw with Everton in their first home game, and have picked up 55 points out of 57, Guardiola still thinks there are areas for improvement with their next game on Wednesday night at Newcastle United.
“In football always you can improve, individually or collectively, so it is not a target to be perfect – it does not exist in the world,” he said.
Asked as to where he wanted his squad to find further development, he added: “Attack more fluently, more chances, it is not easy when the opponents stay back.”
Newcastle picked up their first win in nine games when they beat 3-2 at West Ham United yesterday, and Guardiola said that trying to get win No 18 in a row against Rafa Benitez’s team will not be a straightforward task.
“Newcastle won at West Ham, the atmosphere is so special and we are going to try of course to win,” he said. “We want to maintain that situation.”
Newcastle moved out of the relegation zone with their first win since October. It had initially not looked good for them as Marko Arnautovic gave West Ham a sixth-minute lead.
But Henri Saivet equalised with a fine strike before Mo Diame and Christian Atsu netted within 10 second-half minutes to give Newcastle a 3-1 lead.
Andre Ayew pulled a goal back for West Ham after 69 minutes, having earlier had a penalty saved, but Newcastle held on to take the three points and please a relieved Benitez.
“We needed a performance and a victory like this,” the Spaniard said. “We were pushing really hard against Everton and hit the post twice. I am really pleased for the lads and the fans. it is fantastic.
“We had to suffer all the way to the end. We have been playing quite well some games, losing out to a single mistake, so it was tense at the end.
“It was important to win to show that we could doing the things we are doing. We now it will be difficult to the end but we know that we can win and achieve things doing things as we are.”
He is a special player, a legend, and I am so happy when he plays good and he is scoring goals PEP GUARDIOLA Man City manager on Sergio Aguero