Sergio Aguero scored twice as Manchester City made it 10 wins in as
many games this season with a 3-1 victory away to Swansea in the Premier
League on Saturday.
Aguero marked his return to action with two well-taken goals for Pep
Guardiola’s league leaders after serving a three-game ban for throwing
an elbow in last month’s victory over West Ham.
The Argentinian striker opened the scoring in the ninth minute and he
made it 2-0 25 minutes from time before Raheem Sterling beat Lukasz
Fabianski in the 77th minute at the Liberty Stadium as City beat Swansea
for the second time in a week after their EFL Cup success.
A swift move on the right, a clever turn from Aguero and the visitors were a goal to the good.
Swansea came close to levelling matters in the 12th minute when Kyle
Naughton, playing out of position at left back, found himself one on one
with Claudio Bravo, the City goalkeeper.
Bravo pulled off a decent save before City cleared. However, a minute later and the Swans were level.
Gylfi Sigurdsson poked a ball through to Fernando Llorente, who
having been played onside by John Stones, beat Bravo with a stunning
volley from 16 yards.
With the ball at their feet, Swansea showed decent quality. They were
confident in moving through the gears and lacked only one aspect –- the
final delivery.
Still, it was enough to keep City on their toes. Bacary Sagna was
shown the yellow card for man-handling Kyle Naughton and Sterling was
fortunate to escape similar punishment when he tripped Angel Rangel.
– Silva cheers –
Although Swansea were causing one or two problems at the right end, they almost conceded a second 11 minutes from half time.
Kevin de Bruyne was sent through by Ilkay Gundogan, but with only Fabianski to beat, the Belgian hooked his shot well wide.
A booking for David Silva, for dissent, was greeted with loud cheers
from the Swansea supporters who, after an exacting start to the season,
were beginning to see some light.
For City, there was growing frustration. They dominated the ball for
long periods but struggled to break down Swansea’s resolute back four,
led ably, by Jordi Amat.
The second half was barely two minutes old when Swansea had a golden opportunity to edge themselves in front.
Wayne Routledge found himself in acres of space on the right, but,
inexplicably, chose to dissect Bravo’s far post and Llorente with a ball
that rolled harmlessly out of play.
Five minutes later, the imperious Sigurdsson sent a crisp volley high
and wide after Routledge had picked out the Icelandic midfielder with a
lobbed pass of real quality.
At the opposite end, it was Aguero who came close to restoring City’s
lead. A smart move involving Gundogan and Silva ended with Aguero
shooting over via the foot of van der Hoorn. Sterling was then too
tentative with a shot from 12 yards.
The breakthrough came in the 64th minute when van der Hoorn was
penalised for putting his elbow into the face of De Bruyne inside the
Swansea penalty area.
Referee Neil Swarbrick had no hesitation in yellow carding the
Dutchman and Aguero, with a cheeky chip, did the rest from the spot.
The game was up for Swansea when Sterling, on the counter attack, kept his composure and beat Fabianski with a wonderful finish.
