- Aguero with two goals in first half
- Bojan scored PK to make it 2-1
- Nolito adds two late on
- Two PL wins from two for Pep
Manchester City beat Stoke City 4-1 at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday as Pep Guardiola made it two wins from two games in the Premier League.
Sergio Aguero struck twice in the first half, while Nolito added two late clinchers following Bojan Krkic’s penalty kick which made things interesting in the second half.
In truth City were worthy of their win at a blustery Stoke and Guardiola now has six points from his opening two games in the PL. City are also looking all but certain of a place in the UEFA Champions League group stages following their 5-0 pummeling of Steaua Bucharest in the UCL play-off first leg in midweek.
So far so good for Pep.
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City, as expected, dominated most of the possession early on although Stoke had chances on the break with Marko Arnautovic causing problems down the left and Giannelli Imbula going close twice, once with a long-range effort and then a miskick inside the box.
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In the 26th minute City were gifted an opener as a corner from the right saw Ryan Shawcross clearly haul down Nicolas Otamendi and referee Mike Dean pointed to the spot.
Despite missing two penalty kicks against Steaua in midweek, Aguero took the responsibility and slammed home the penalty kick to put City 1-0 up.
1 - Ryan Shawcross is the first PL player to concede and win a penalty in the same game since Theo Walcott in August 2011. Rare.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 20, 2016
Soon it was 2-0 as Aguero glanced in his and City’s second with a fine header from Kevin de Bruyne’s magnificent free kick. Moments later Stoke had a shout for a penalty kick as Phil Bardsley blasted an effort on goal which was well saved by Willy Caballero and Joe Allen looked to be fouled by Aleksandar Kolarov in the box but no penalty kick was given.
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Less than four minutes into the second half Stoke were back in the game as Raheem Sterling was guilty of grabbing hold of Shawcross in the box and Dean again pointed towards the spot despite minimal but clear contact with Sterling not once looking at the ball. Bojan stepped up and stroked the PK home to make it 2-1. Game on.
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Stoke pushed hard for an equalizer with Caballero struggling with his distribution in the blustery conditions in the Potteries as Joe Hart looked on from the bench.
Yet Man City continued to have most of the ball and in the end it was two substitutes who combined to seal the win. Kelechi Iheanacho rounded Shay Given and calmly passed across the goal for Nolito to slot home and make it 3-1. Nolito then added another in stoppage time with Sterling unselfishly slotting him in to tap home after Iheanacho’s clever dummy. 4-1. Game over.