Laporte’s injury takes shine off City cakewalk
manchester city 4 De Bruyne (2), Aguero (42, 55), B Silva (79) brighton 0
Manchester City fear Aymeric Laporte could face a lengthy lay-off after suffering a serious-looking knee injury in the champions’ victory over Brighton.
The Frenchman was carried off on a stretcher after going down in agony following a challenge on Adam Webster late in the first half of the Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium.
City have already lost winger Leroy Sane to a long-term knee problem this season and the club are anxious Laporte has not suffered the same fate.
City manager Pep Guardiola, who described Laporte as the world’s best leftsided centre-back only on Friday, said: “I think he is in hospital. It doesn’t look good, but I don’t know exactly what he has done.
“Tomorrow, or tonight, we will know exactly what he has.
“He didn’t feel good. The doctor is going to call me and tell me what he has but I think, for a while, he will be out. Hopefully it is not as long as Leroy, but we will see.”
Laporte’s injury seems set to deprive the 25-year-old of the chance to make his France debut in his country’s upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Albania and Andorra.
With John Stones still sidelined, Laporte’s exit also forced midfielder Fernandinho into emergency action as a centre-back, highlighting City’s shortcomings in the area after Vincent Kompany’s departure.
Guardiola, however, has no doubts Fernandinho can fill the position.
He said: “He is a holding midfielder, everyone knows it, but I think he has the conditions to play there.
“The problems we have right now, we have a situation, and he is going to adapt. He is going to help us because he is intelligent, fast, strong in the headers, in the build-up. He has the quality to see what happens in front. He can play in both positions.”
City got off to a flying start as Oleksandr Zinchenko played in David Silva and the Spaniard’s cutback was tapped in by Kevin De Bruyne with barely a minute played.
With that head start secured, City then had the luxury of controlling the rest of the game at the tempo they desired.
They did not need top gear as they claimed most of the possession and patiently carved out further chances.
Sergio Aguero dragged a shot wide, Riyad Mahrez had an effort blocked and De Bruyne missed the target.
Brighton, to their credit, tried to play fluid football when they did get the ball, but their attacks amounted to little. Solly March curled a shot well over and Leandro Trossard delayed an attempt for too long.
City should have doubled their lead when Raheem Sterling pulled the ball back for David Silva, but the veteran surprisingly poked wide from in front of goal.
Laporte’s afternoon came to a premature end as Webster, making his Premier League debut, launched a rare Brighton charge.
The Frenchman came across to cut off the run, but banged his knee in the tackle and went down in agony.
City’s flow was not affected and the second goal arrived three minutes before the break. Mahrez played in De Bruyne with a deft backheel and the Belgian’s ball was seized upon by Aguero, who took two defence-fooling touches before smashing emphatically past Mat Ryan.
Trossard might have pulled one back early in the second half, but he failed to make clean contact and Fernandinho headed away.
Aguero then gave another lesson in finishing as he curled home a sublime third for City from the edge of the area after some neat interplay between Zinchenko and David Silva.
City were completely at ease for the remainder of the game and De Bruyne and Aguero volleyed over before Bernardo Silva came off the bench to wrap up the scoring 11 minutes from time.
Bernardo had only been on the field a matter of seconds after replacing namesake David when he was set up by Aguero and he fired low into the far corner.
But Brighton did try to play attacking football and Graham Potter felt his players acquitted themselves well against superior opposition.
He said: “The result is not something we are enjoying, of course, but the performance of the players was one of real courage – some good play and their application was fantastic.
“We had a setback very early in the game but they still carried on – great resilience. They tried against a top, top team.
“No matter what you do here it’s difficult. Congratulations to Manchester City for winning the game and congratulations to our players because they did everything we asked of them.”