Clinical City put eight past hapless Hornets
manchester City 8
Pep Guardiola called rampant Manchester City a “joy to watch” after his side ripped apart Watford in record-breaking fashion.
“It is weird, it is not normal,” Guardiola said of his side’s start at the Etihad Stadium. “Five shots, five goals.
“Inthesametimewegavethemtwo chancestoscoretwogoalsthatwewere lucky in this time it didn’t happen when in the past it sometimes happened.
“But the quality of the players up front made the difference, so the quality that we have is a joy to watch.”
Bernardo Silva claimed his first topflight hat-trick as Pep Guardiola’s side ran riot at the Etihad Stadium to move back within two points of Premier League leaders Liverpool, who face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
Sergio Aguero – who might easily have had a treble himself in an embarrassingly one-sided encounter – also got on the scoresheet along with David Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin De Bruyne.
Itwastheperfectwayforcityto celebrate their 125th anniversary and arathersoberingresulttosaytheleast for the newly-reinstalled Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores.
In the end the rampant hosts stopped just short of equalling rivals Manchester United’s Premier League record 9-0 defeat of Ipswich in 1995.
Citycouldevenhavehadmoreasthey racked up 28 attempts on goal against the league’s bottom side, including two efforts that hit the woodwork. man City:
Ederson 7; Walker 7 (Joao Cancelo 54, 8), Otamendi 8 (Garcia 63, 7), Mendy 8 (Angelino 46, 8); De Bruyne 9, Rodri 8, D. Silva 8, Mahrez 8; Bernardo Silva 9, Aguero 7. Unused subs – Bravo, Gundogan, Sterling, Jesus. watford:
Foster 4; Femenia 4, Dawson 5, Mariappa 5, Holebas 4; Foulquier 4 (Pereyra 33, 5), Capoue 4, Doucoure 5, Hughes 4 (Sarr 59, 5); Cleverley 5, Deulofeu 5 (Gray 77, 5). Unused subs – Gomes, Janmaat, Kabasele, Chalobah.
In their nine previous meetings since the Hornets were promoted to the top flight in 2014, City had scored 31 goals, including their 6-0 walkover in last season’s FA Cup final.
They were even more rampant than at Wembley, where it took them 26 minutes to score their first goal, this time around as they raced into an incredible 5-0 lead inside 18 minutes.
David Silva notched the first after just 52 seconds, applying a simple finishing touch from a typically sublime
right-wing cross from the impressive De Bruyne.
Aguero doubled City’s lead from the penalty spot after seven minutes when Mahrez was brought down by Ben Foster.
Mahrez was tripped again on the edge of the area five minutes later and he stepped up to fire in the resulting freekick, albeit with aid of a deflection .
Bernardo Silva made it 4-0 with a simple diving header after Otamendi flicked on a corner, and the defender himself grabbed the fifth soon after.