GOALS AND STATS

Pellegrini, facing his former club for the first time, opted for an attacking line-up.

It was a brave move but ultimately doomed to failure as City romped three-nil up after just 34 minutes. They settled for just one more with Sane striking his second in stoppage time. Pellegrini is now sweating on the fitness of Marko Arnautovic, who had to limp off near the end leaving his side a man short. “Marko finished the game with some pain. We will see how he is tomorrow,” Pellegrini said.

“It is difficult for me as a manager when you have lost 4-0 but there are a lot of things that were useful for us in this game. “They have so many goalscorers but I think those goals were too easy for them.”