Kevin De Bruyne admitted Manchester City are growing in confidence after they swatted Arsenal aside 3-1 at the Etihad.
Goals from De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus were enough to see off an Arsenal side who looked second best throughout. Not that that is a damning indictment. City are playing so well at the moment that it is hard to see many teams giving them a game.
Guardiola’s men went into the clash unbeaten at the top of the table. Not only that but they had been playing some brilliant football and many speculated that the Abu-Dhabi-owned club could go the entire season unbeaten. That talk was rubbished by Guardiola, who also kicked all ideas of a treble-winning season into row Z.
But there was no hiding the fact that Guardiola is creating something special at the Etihad, and De Bruyne revealed they are enjoying themselves.
“We know Arsenal are a quality side but I think we contained them quite well.” the Belgian said.
“We created more chances and the third goal came at a good time. We should also have scored the second one in the first half. We kept our composure well and it is a great win for us.
“Obviously, it was great to score as it put us ahead and it’s always nice every time you score. Maybe we got the benefit from the referee but the penalty was the second one of its type in the game. He had to give a penalty.
“The more you win, the more other teams want to beat you. It’s been a great start for us so let’s see what other games bring.”
City now have 31 points from their first 11 games — Guardiola’s biggest haul ever from the opening 11 matches of a season.
Before De Bruyne’s opener Manchester City were probing and asking questions of Arsenal. And it was no surprise when the Arsenal defense was breached. Initially, De Bruyne put in an outstanding shot that was saved. Then, after a little one-two, he buried it into the bottom right corner, giving Petr Cech no chance.
City doubled their lead just after the break when Raheem Sterling was knocked over in the area by Nacho Monreal. Aguero made no mistake with the resulting penalty.
Alexander Lacazette came off the bench and gave the Gunners some hope with a well-worked goal — Alex Iwobi found Aaron Ramsey, who picked out the Frenchman, who smashed the ball into the back of the net.
But while the scoreline suggested the visitors were never out of the match the reality was somewhat different with City always looking in control. And it was no surprise when the hosts regained their two-goal cushion when Jesus buried a David Silva cross, with there being more than a hint of the Spaniard being offside.
Source:Arabnews
GMT 11:12 2017 Saturday ,25 February
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