City back to their best in real mauling for Magpies
MANCHESTER City were back to their irresistible best as they swept Newcastle aside at the Etihad last night.
It looked like attack versus defence at times as Pep Guardiola’s side produced the perfect reaction to their 1-0 defeat to Southampton on Sunday.
Afterwards Guardiola said he liked ‘everything’ about City’s performance, adding: ‘We scored the goals that we missed in the last game. We created more chances in the game against Southampton, but we could not convert, but the team is always there.’
In truth, this was more like their performance in beating new champions Liverpool 4-0 last week but with injuries forcing Steve Bruce into six changes it is perhaps no surprise City tore into Newcastle at will.
It took just ten minutes for them to go in front as David Silva sent in a low cross from the left and Gabriel Jesus swept home to end a nine-game drought in front of goal. Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden went close and the second goal duly came after 20 minutes, Mahrez turning home Kevin De Bruyne’s pull-back, the Belgian’s 18th Premier League assist of the season.
Even when Newcastle did get a chance after half an hour, City keeper Ederson dealt comfortably with Federico Fernandez’s header.
The chances kept coming at the other end with 20-year-old Foden uncharacteristically spurning two opportunities and Oleksandr Zinchenko having a thunderous long-range shot blocked.
The third goal just before the hour was a freak, though, when Fernandez got in the way of Matt Ritchie’s clearance for an unfortunate own goal.
Silva, who is leaving City at the end of the season, clipped in a delightful 20-yard free-kick to make it 4-0 before the Spaniard played in Raheem Sterling to complete the rout.