Manchester City 4 Bournemouth 0: Kevin De Bruyne’s naughty free kick gets party started as Kelechi Iheanacho, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan run riot
Pep Guardiola's City brush aside the Cherries to stay top of the Premier League pile with dominant victory at the Etihad
MANCHESTER CITY brushed aside Bournemouth at the Etihad thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Kelechi Iheanacho, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan.
It was a full debut to forget for on loan Jack Wilshere who had a nightmare and was at fault for De Bruyne's opener.
Wilshere gave the ball away in midfield and in his desperation to make amends fouled Nolito on the edge of the area. The resulting free kick was cheekily struck under the jumping wall and past Cherries keeper Artur Boruc.
Iheanacho doubled City's lead before half time finishing from close range after a devastating counter attack involving the superb De Bruyne and Sterling.
The same threesome combined just after the break with another counter attack, this time it was Sterling with the easy finish.
Gundogan celebrated his Premier League debut for City with the fourth coolly slotting home from De Bruyne's clever pass.
Wilshere's afternoon to forget was complete when he was replaced on 67 mins but CityNolito was sent off late on for a headbutt on Adam Smith.
FACTS, STATS, GOALS & LOLS
- City are now 'spineless'. People used to talk about Hart, Kompany, Toure, Silva and Aguero as the spine of the team. None of them started here and they still won easily.
- This probably isn't how Jack Wilshere dreamt his Bournemouth debut would start The England ace clumsily conceded a free-kick on 15 minutes - which de Bruyne duly dispatched.
- No Sergio Aguero, no problem. Nigerian kid Kelechi Iheanacho has scored in each game while the Argentine has been banned. What a prospect he is.
5Scored at Old Trafford now Iheanacho does it again at home to BournemouthCredit: PA:Press Association - What has happened to the Raheem Sterling who struggled so badly at Euro 2016? This one resembled Lionel Messi as he weaved through the Cherries defence a couple of times.
- No Sergio Aguero, no problem. Nigerian kid Kelechi Iheanacho has scored in each game while the Argentine has been banned. What a prospect he is.
- Guardiola wasn't kidding when he said he was never satisfied. He was giving de Bruyne a talking to after the second goal - even though he'd scored one and created the other.
5 - Eddie Howe must dread seeing Manchester City on his fixture list. The Cherries shipped nine in two games last year and this was another hiding.
- Artur Boruc was injured in the warm up here last season. THis time he got a knock in the build up to the third goal.
- Credit to Bournemouth for keeping going in the face of such a beating. They continued to attack and were unlucky not to get a consolation through Callum Wilson.
Dream Team ratings
MANCHESTER CITY:
"I am so happy with Raheem Sterling's start - and he instagrams and tweets less!"
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said: "It was a tough day.
"They were excellent, but from our perspective one of their goals is a free-kick gone under the wall, the other is from our own set piece. The nature of the goals is disappointing."