FOOTBALL ACTION, GOALS & STATS Leroy’s simply In-Sane!
GUARDIOLA HEAPS PRAISE ON GERMAN AS CITY WIN AGAIN
CPalace Huddersfield 1 Brighton
2 Watford
3 Bournemouth 1
Leicester 2 Burnley
Man City Newcastle Southampton 2 Man United
0 WestHam PEP GUARDIOLA singled out Leroy Sane for special praise after Manchester City continued their unbeaten start in the Premier League.
The defending champions have now won 12 and drawn two of their first 14 games and are five points clear of second-placed Liverpool.
Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan scored to see off Bournemouth yesterday but it was Sane who caught his manager’s eye.
Guardiola said: “If he’s gonna complain to his manager about why he doesn’t play I will show him the video of this, because if he plays like he did today he will play.
“The challenge is there with De Bruyne coming back, I ask the best of them all.
“We want to be competitive in all competitions, there is no other option, and playing like that he deserves to play.
“He was incredible, created chances and was positive in mind.
“We never doubt him but he’s only 21 and up and down and that is normal. Maybe in the future he will realise how important that is and be like Fernandinho, David Silva, every week an eight or nine.”
City were made to work for this win, though, and went in level at half-time.
An impressive second-half display saw them take all three points but they had to do it without all-time leading scorer Sergio Aguero.
The Argentina hitman was missing from the matchday squad and when asked if he would be fit to face Watford on Tuesday night, Guardiola said: “I don’t know, we shall see.”
Cherries boss Eddie Howe, who saw Callum Wilson level for his side in the 44th minute, said: “We believed beforehand and definitely at half-time. It’s the best we’ve performed here.”