It took a Swansea set-piece for Guardiola’s men to add their third, with De Bruyne streaming forward and Sterling producing a wonderful piece of skill to beat Kyle Naughton – ignoring Aguero’s pleas for a pass – before slotting in.
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While Swansea went toe-to-toe with Manchester City in the first half, City broke away in the second via a Sergio Aguero brace. Despite playing at home, Swansea opted to defend deep with Jordi Amat (2) and Mike van der Hoorn (5) positioned just above their own penalty area to avoid Sterling and Aguero running in behind them.
Speculation is intensifying about Francesco Guidolin’s future as Swansea manager, with the team picking up four points from a possible 18.
Both his goals were one for the collector’s item; the first a show of his flexibility with an expert turn and finish, and the second a flawless paneka penalty to fool Lukasz Fabianski.
Swansea City’s Francesco Guidolin said: “The performance was flawless for me, Manchester City are the best team in the Premier League, I am proud of my players and the way that they performed, just disappointed with the result”.
Put through on a quick-fire City counter-attack, the England global proceeded to leave Kyle Naughton in a mess with a lovely stepover. “It is the first time we have been at 1-1 at half-time and we spoke of how we had to be like a team and in the second half we played really well”.
Asked about De Bruyne’s situation, Guardiola added: “I think he is injured”. “Tonight we are going to come back to Manchester, tomorrow the doctor is going to see”. It’s a pity – he is important for us.
“The way he reacted, it looked like muscular, but I am not a doctor, fortunately. If we continue to play this way we have a good future in front of us”. We are not in a good moment for results.
“He knows I want more and he can play better”.
“I’m not a judge”. But in the final ten minutes the Citizens improved and had two good chances, but were unable to find another goal, and we had a very even game going into halftime. “We just focused on pre-season and then we took a lot of confidence from our Champions League qualifying games and then it’s been game-by-game”. 11 goals for Aguero.
Jonathan is ESPN FC’s Manchester City correspondent.
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City had a great start to the game, dominating possession, moving well in attack and finding spaces in the Swans’ defense to create chances.
