«CITY SLICKER SILVA
Spaniard shoots down Stoke with double
MANCHESTER City will not only win the Premier League, but it seems they will do it without any semblance of fuss.
Pep Guardiola’s team will be crowned champions if they beat rivals Manchester United on April 7 — providing they win at Everton on March 31.
City eased Stoke City aside last night. Guardiola will not admit it but, apart from a ten-minute spell before half-time, it looked simple.
David Silva scored a super team goal in the tenth minute of the first half and then added another five minutes into the second. There were at least half a dozen other good chances.
‘We created enough chances and we were solid,’ said Guardiola. ‘I am so happy to beat Stoke home and away and also to now be just a few games away from being champions.
‘Sooner or later, we will be champions if we play like this. But it doesn’t matter when we win it.’
What matters is that City were in control. Champions by early April. Champions by a country mile.
Silva, playing against a background of personal difficulty just now, was their best player. He so often is.
But an understanding of team play and of the need for hard work ran through this team once again here and it is hard to think that there will be much new for Guardiola to tell them as they arrive in the Middle East for some warm-weather work today.
Stoke’s gameplan was clear from the start. Paul Lambert’s team sat off in the hope they could squeeze the space inside their own half and keep their opponents’ opportunities to a minimum.
It was easy to understand Lambert’s logic. Teams who try to press City further up the field run the risk of being picked off.
But a goal changes everything and, on this occasion, City had to wait only ten minutes.
‘They are as good a team as I have seen in a very long time,’ admitted Lambert. ‘They have gone on to a different level.
‘But credit to my team because we never capitulated and they didn’t carve us up in the way they’ve done to other teams. Pep was very complimentary about our spirit when we spoke at the end.’
Guardiola fielded a strong team but they were not immediately into their stride. The problem for Stoke was that when City did find a gear, it was the top one and it was enough to ease them into the lead.
Strangely, it was a relatively poor touch from Gabriel Jesus that started things off.
Receiving the ball with his back to goal 40 yards out, the Brazilian did not control it as he would have liked. But his second touch was superb as he swivelled and played the ball inside to the advancing Raheem Sterling in one movement.
Once Sterling was away, Stoke were in trouble and when he looked to his left, he could see Silva arriving between defenders. His low cross needed to be pretty much perfect to pick the little Spaniard out — and it was.
Silva buried the ball with his left foot past Jack Butland without breaking stride.
So early in the game, things looked ominous for Stoke. Soon after the opener, a move that started with goalkeeper Ederson swept City up the field and, within seconds, a combination of Kyle Walker, Kevin de Bruyne and Silva had set Leroy Sane free. That time, a shot on goal didn’t follow but it was another sign of what City are capable of doing.
There were other half-chances for City as the half wore on — a header missed at the near post by Jesus and a volley across goal by Sane. But, to Stoke’s credit, the champions-elect didn’t have things all their own way.
Indeed, City captain Vincent Kompany was fooled by a long clearance by Butland before half-time and, when Walker stuck a foot out to try and dispossess the breaking Jese, the ball looped towards the top corner, forcing Ederson to back-pedal and touch it over the bar.
Stoke had ended the half well. Shame, then, that they couldn’t take that momentum into the second period. Within five minutes, City had doubled their lead.
Once again, the interplay from Guardiola’s team was impressive as a quick exchange between Fernandinho and Jesus allowed Silva to steal in to score.
As Jesus lifted the ball across the penalty area towards Silva, Butland seemed caught in two minds. Had he stayed on his line, he would have been hard to beat but instead he chose to advance and, as a result, it was a touch easier for Silva to nudge the ball past him.
On the touchline, Lambert swung his arms and exhorted his players to give him more effort. Already, though, it seemed a long way back for Stoke.
Sterling then bamboozled Kostas Stafylidis and Geoff Cameron to bring a save from Butland, before Oleksandr Zinchenko stung the keeper’s hands from 30 yards. What had been a fairly competitive game at half-time was threatening to become a walkover.
Bruno Martins Indi had a chance to interrupt the flow when the ball dropped to him after a free-kick, but the Dutch defender hooked it over from six yards.