PEP GIVES THANKS FOR AGUERO

AT the final whistle of City and Sergio Aguero’s return to freescoring form, Pep Guardiola made a beeline for his striker. Manager embraced player no less than six times as the pair saluted the travelling supporters and then spent the entire walk back to the tunnel passionately jabbering into his ear. It was a very public display of affection (right) and perhaps one in the eye for those who, following Aguero’s omission from the team who lost 4-0 at Barcelona, suggested the Argentine may be on his way towards the Etihad exit. So what did those sweet nothings consist of? The answer was as clear cut as City’s Hawthorns stroll. ‘Thank you!’ a beaming Guardiola explained. ‘I said to him thank you. Without him we cannot achieve our target, it is impossible.’ The win was the visitors’ first after six failed attempts, Aguero’s brace his first goals in six games. If the 28-year-old fires, so do City. It is not lost on his manager, but he believes it might be on the man himself. ‘He is one the nicest players I ever trained in my career,’ Guardiola added. ‘It is a pleasure for me to work with nice people and Sergio is one of the best ones by far. ‘But I need to convince him he has to believe how good he is and how we need him. When he is good anything can happen in our team.’ With three games in a week, including tomorrow’s visit of Barcelona, Guardiola’s call to send a reserve team out against United in the EFL Cup now appears to be the right one, despite the defeat. After Aguero’s strikes killed this game, Ilkay Gundogan rounded things off with two more. West Brom manager Tony Pulis signed a new oneyear contract earlier in the week and may have hoped to celebrate against different opposition. ‘You look at the quality they’ve got and the strength — it’s absolutely frightening,’ he said. SUPER STAT: West Brom have had a total of just two shots on target in their last two league games.

WEST BROM (4-1-4-1): Foster 6; Dawson 5, McAuley 5, Olsson 4 (Leko 51min, 6), Nyom 5; Evans 6; Chadli 4.5 (Robson-Kanu 87), Fletcher 5 (Morrison 51, 5.5), Brunt 6.5, McClean 5; Rondon 5. Subs not

used: Myhill, Gardner, Phillips, Galloway. Booked: Dawson, Morrison, Olsson, McClean.

MAN CITY (4-1-4-1): Bravo 6; Fernando 6, Stones 6, Otamendi 6, Kolarov 6; Fernandinho 6.5; Gundogan 8, Silva 7 (Garcia 83), Sterling 7 (Navas 77), Nolito 6.5 (De Bruyne 68); Aguero 9.

Subs not used: Caballero, Kompany, Clichy, Iheanacho. Booked: Fernando, Kolarov, Nolito.

Scorers: Aguero 19, 28, Gundogan 79, 90. Man of the match: Sergio Aguero. Referee: Lee Mason 6.