It was an encounter with a lot of spice but Manchester City took the game by the scruff of the neck and never let it go, their dominance against Bournemouth was shown throughout the game and it obviously reflects in the scoreline.
Gary O’Neil would be disappointed with what his boys played on the night but you wouldn’t expect much from The Cherries against a well oiled Manchester City side.
Manchester City responded after their watery run in recent games
The Cityzens responded to their deep in form recently as they smashed Bournemouth with vitality at the vitality Stadium.
Gary O’Neil set his side up in a 5-4-1 formation with Neto in goal, Smith, Stephens, Mepham, Senesi, Zemura in defense.
In midfield, they went with Ouattara, Lerma, Billing and Traore while in attack, Dominic Solanke was the sole man upfront.
Pep Guardiola lined-up his side in his usual preferred fashion of 4-2-3-1 with Ederson Moraes in goal, Rico Lewis, Akanji, Dias and Ake in defense.
Gundogan and Rodri played in defensive midfield while the attacking midfielders were Foden, Alvarez and Jack Grealish.
In attack, the Cityzens had their lethal pointman and breathtaking forward Erling Haaland.
Manchester City were domineering in the first half
Manchester City started the brighter of the two sides and they continued in that manner all game long, Jack Grealish won a corner but Billing did enough in nodding it away to safety for The Cherries.
On the fourteenth (14) minute, the floodgates of goals was thrown wide and open, Julian Alvarez scored the opening goal for Pep Guardiola’s side in what would be the first of three more to come.
Manchester City stretched Bournemouth for the entire ninety minutes of the game taking the game to a side who weren’t expected to also give the Cityzens much trouble coming into the game.
Sharing the spoils with both Nottingham Forest in their last match in the Premier League and another one that came against RB Leipzig at the Red Bull arena.
Manchester City were fired up and charged to impress against AFC Bournemouth who sit in the relegation zone.
Erling Haaland scored the second goal for Manchester City reacting quickest in the box as Phil Foden couldn’t drive home an excellently delivered ball to the back post from Ilkay Gundogan.
In the 38th minute, Gary O’Neil’s side had a shout for e penalty but it wasn’t given as the VAR decided that there was no handball done by a Manchester City player.
Phil Foden found the back of the net himself on the 45th minute scoring the third goal for Pep Guardiola’s side on his 200th appearance for The Cityzens.
How the second half of proceedings went
The Cityzens added the icing on the cake in the second half as Chris Mepham scored an own goal.
Julian Alvarez smashed the ball towards goal and Mepham tried to defend for his side by making a block near the goal line, but his efforts were poorly done and it resulted in an own goal.
The Cherries also had another shout for a penalty in the second half but it was denied once again as Kavin Phillips was left off the hook following a handball.
Late on in the game, Bournemouth got their consolation goal as Jordan Zemura’s cross found Jefferson Lerma who put the ball beyond Ederson in goal for Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola would be delighted at what his boys delivered on the day and he would hope that they can consistently deliver such going forward.
