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MANCHESTER, England – After all the noise surrounding Manchester City’s start to the season, the Etihad Stadium has become eerily quiet. Pep Guardiola’s future is orderly, the squad is almost full, City scores again and, most importantly, they are winning. Regularly.
The final victory, 2-0 over Fulham on Saturday was expected in Guardiola’s 700th game as manager, but it was done in such a controlled manner that it should concern every other Premier League team with title ambitions. Now it’s a loss in his last 14 games in all competitions, a run dating back to September, and four clean sheets in a row.
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After 10 league games in this unusual campaign, City are just three points behind leaders Tottenham and Liverpool, who play on Sunday. The shark team, as Benjamin Mendy likes to call them, will be smelling blood.
“We fought at the beginning of the season for many reasons, now four games, four clean sheets, it is very important for us to maintain this solidity,” Guardiola said.
“This season it seems that there will be many teams in dispute. Everyone can beat everyone. This month it was important to qualify for the Champions League, now we focus on the Premier League. It will be a long season.”
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It was one of those days that became common during Guardiola’s reign when the only negative was that City probably should have scored more. Their failure to do so was due to Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, who made three expert saves in the first half alone.
“It was a great performance,” said Fulham manager Scott Parker. “He made big saves and it was necessary. When you come to places like City you need a great performance from your goalkeeper and he did.”
Still, the French international left at halftime on a frosty afternoon in Manchester with his team already 2-0 down. Raheem Sterling scored the first in the fifth minute, his first league goal since October, and then drew a penalty for the second after Joachim Andersen shoved him into the box.
Kevin De Bruyne, who (surprise, surprise) created the opportunity for Sterling, stepped forward to send Areola down the wrong path from the penalty spot and score the 400th goal in the Premier League since Guardiola’s appointment in 2016 Guardiola showed his intention before a ball was kicked by ordering his right-back, Joao Cancelo, to start the game at the midline, and by the time Jon Moss blew the whistle for half-time, City had registered nine shots, five of which were on the doorstep.
Man City is a different team with a healthy Kevin De Bruyne, and as they demonstrated in their 2-0 win over Fulham, that spells trouble for the rest of the Premier League. Photo by Dave Thompson / PA Images via Getty Images
Instead, Ederson did not have to make any kind of save until the 76th minute. De Bruyne, who this week was selected as the best offensive midfielder in the world at FC 100, meanwhile, hit the crossbar in the second half and forced another good stop for Areola on one of those afternoons where he seemed to slide in and wreak havoc for the opposition. His assist for Sterling was his sixth of the season and 72nd in the Premier League, eight more than any other player since his competitive debut with Chelsea in 2013. City need to keep him fit if they want to regain the title. Liverpool.
“We know Kevin’s quality of goals and assists,” Guardiola said. “It’s very important to us. Just look at how he runs and fights like a modern footballer today. He’s an example of this. He put all of this together and every season is huge.”
It was the perfect start to a week that will end with Manchester’s first derby of the season at Old Trafford. While Manchester United will prepare by fighting for their lives in the Champions League against RB Leipzig on Tuesday, Guardiola can rotate his team against Marseille on Wednesday knowing that the top spot in Group C is already in the bag.
The Spaniard showed his team’s strength against Fulham, leaving Kyle Walker and £ 40m summer signing Nathan Ake at home. Still, he was able to present a back four that cost a total of £ 224.5 million to assemble. Sergio Agüero is the only senior player currently injured, but his knee problem is not serious and he could play against United on Saturday.
It’s not in Guardiola’s nature to rule out games even if the outcome doesn’t matter, but when he didn’t make a trade against Fulham it was clear that he had already decided that players like De Bruyne, Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Ruben Dias will do so. It will not be necessary against Marseille.
“In the Champions League we have done the work, but there is still prestige to play for and bonuses if we win,” he said.
“We have to respect the competition and we have to do it seriously but we are focused on the Premier League. The important thing is the feeling in the team. We will improve.”
Sinister certainly.
Source: espn.co.uk
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