After a scintillating two-goal first half performance with a style and swagger that his teams are famed for, Pep Guardiola received a reminder of the competitiveness of the Premier League as West Ham fought their way back into a thrilling encounter at the Etihad stadium.
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Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has claimed that his side deserved their 3-1 victory over West Ham United this afternoon.
“At half-time I didn’t ask my team to turn the game around, just to show their qualities and enthusiasm and we did that”.
City could have leading scorer Sergio Aguero banned for the derby match against United next month if retrospective action is taken after he appeared to swing an arm at West Ham’s Winston Reid, who had to go off after taking a blow to the throat.
“Don’t worry, I know you’re a good player”, Guardiola text Sterling.
– Raheem Sterling has had a hand in five goals in four appearances under Guardiola (2 goals, 3 assists); as many has he produced in his last 22 matches under Manuel Pellegrini.
“Of course, there is still room for improvement”, Guardiola said, “but we have been playing well and hopefully we can continue doing that”.
Despite the England international’s goalscoring heroics, Guardiola said he had been more pleased by Sterling earlier in the season, while he played down his own influence.
“I’m not saying that Manuel didn’t, but [Guardiola has] come in and given me a lot of authority to go forward”.
Noble said: “I don’t know what it was about really but I know he can’t really talk”.
Seen the Aguero elbow incident.
“Raz [Sterling] has scored two goals, that’s good, but for me the games before were more brilliant. So credit for him for really giving me that boost”.
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Bilic’s side, again weakened by injuries and unable to use new loan signing Simone Zaza from Juventus, employed three centre halves plus wing backs, but defended poorly against City’s fluent attacking.
