And it was Pellegrini’s summer signings who provided the impetus for the result, with De Bruyne ably assisted by Sterling, who tormented Yoshida.
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But City weathered the comeback attempt and took the sting out of the game with a third goal after 69 minutes. There have been seven in all for the club.
But despite both players operating in similar positions, the 24-year-old is confident they can develop a fruitful understanding.
“A lot of people say they like him to play near the box but I don’t think he likes it because he is better arriving from behind with the ball to the box”.
“It’s important to be a solid, consistent team and to recover our normal style of play”. Kolarov drills a shot into the far corner to finish off a brilliant passing move by City. 3-1!
The Saints returned in the second half and pulled a goal back in the 50th minute through as Long met a cross from Sadio Mane to head past City goalkeeper. “He can keep the ball a little bit more than me so the two together that’s an advantage, we can switch different things”.
In his withdrawn manner, Pellegrini praised De Bruyne. I think the players’ very strong reaction was not easy because we are playing so many games with the same players.
“I hope he will continue making good assistance and working the way he did tonight [Saturday] and scoring goals is also important. That will give us the points we need to win it”.
It remains to be seen whether the Manchester City boss decides to risk Aguero for their League Cup quarter-final against Hull City this Tuesday night.
The home team started the game with their star striker on the pitch but he succumbed to injury midway through the second period.
Van Dijk sought to make amends for his part in City’s second goal, when he rifled a shot that hit the post in the 22nd minute.
A concern for the home side was the sight of Sergio Agüero limping off after an hour.
No. 2 Willy Caballero, whose only Premier League appearance this season ended in a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham, will step in for Hart.
The former Malaga goalkeeper, who joined City in 2013, has been credited with providing the extra competition Hart needed to raise his game to its current high level, but has himself been limited to only occasional appearances.
De Bruyne believes his side can duplicate that run.
“If you want to be involved in the Premier League title [race] you can not drop more points at home”.
Despite those heroics, Bournemouth have now gone eight games without a win and remain in the relegation zone on 10 points with Newcastle and Aston Villa, who have only five points and have lost 11 of their 14 games, beneath them.
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But we showed we could ride out the hard moments and we qualified thanks to our quality.
