Manchester City won a hard-fought 3-1 victory against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. Sergio Aguero opened the scoring with a fine goal, the scores were leveled by Fernando Llorente’s beautifully taken goal. City improved in the second half and sealed the win with a penalty from Aguero and a solo goal by Raheem Sterling.
With that win, City have now won their first 10 games under Guardiola and stay at the top of the EPL table.
Let’s take a look at the player ratings.
Swansea City
Lukasz Fabianski – 6.5/10
The Polish goalkeeper could have done better for Aguero’s first goal but was not at fault for the remaining two goals. In fact, he did well to keep Swansea in the game with a good save from Fernandinho in the second half and showed alertness to tip Silva’s deflected shot over the crossbar.
Angel Rangel – 5.5/10
The Swans right-back did not have the best of games as Sterling and Silva pegged him back from going forward and he struggled to cope with their skill and movement.
Jordi Amat – 6.5/10
Amat started the game slowly but gradually put on a good defensive performance especially in the first half as City failed to get a hold onto the game. He stayed tight on Aguero, preventing the City marksman to take a shot and made a crunching tackle on him to prevent a goal in the second half.
Mike van der Hoorn – 6/10
The Dutchman played a solid game at centre-half winning the physical battle and gave a steady defensive performance in the Swans defence. However, he let himself down by conceding the crucial penalty with a flailing arm on de Bruyne.
Kyle Naughton – 7/10
The left-back had a good game by managing to keep de Bruyne quiet in the first half. He also supported the Swans attack which included a fine pass for Llorente in the first half and another cross that the striker headed wide.
In the second half, he defended well as City came into the game and performed a strong tackle on Aguero and a good block on Sterling to prevent them from scoring.
Leon Britton – 6.5/10
Leon Britton put on a typical industrious display in midfield and did well in dictating play in the first half. He was however overrun in the second half and was replaced by Sung-Yong Ki.
Jack Cork – 6.5/10
The Englishman was full of running as Swansea dominated the game after equalizing. He, however, failed to make any notable contribution in an attacking sense and faded as the match grew on.
Leroy Fer – 7/10
The Dutchman was the first to press and harry the City midfield in the first half and matched up to his no. 8 counterpart Gundogan for a period. He won free-kicks, made good runs and ball recoveries in the first half but got outclassed by City in the second half.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 6.5/10
The Iceland international did well to set up Swansea’s goal after being responsible for City’s opening goal by not tracking Sagna. He tried to make things happen for the Swans but to not much avail. He should have scored from Routledge’s looping cross in the second half.
Wayne Routledge – 6.5/10
The wideman posed tough questions to Kolarov as his pace left the City left-back exposed at times and picked fouls off him. Routledge put in a few good crossed including a good one to Sigurdsson in the second half who failed to score. He picked up a yellow for a strong foul on Stones and was replaced by Barrow.
Fernando Llorente – 7.5/10
The Spaniard had a fine game leading the line for Swansea. He made good use of his physicality to cause problems for the City defence and scored a fantastic goal to get the Swans level in the first half.
Prior to that, he extracted a good save from Bravo. Overall, he did well against a top defence although he could have been better with his heading.
Substitutes
Modou Barrow – 6/10
Barrow was introduced with Swans chasing the game and made one good run late into the second half.
Sung-Yong Ki – 5.5/10
The South Korean came on for Britton and did little to impact the game.
Borja Baston – NA
Baston was introduced with 10 minutes left and did not have enough time to change the game.
Manchester City
Claudio Bravo – 6.5/10
The Chilean goalkeeper showed good reflexes to deny Llorente from close range in the first half but could do nothing about Swansea’s goal. He did show his footwork and distribution throughout the game and was strong in corners as well.
Bacary Sagna – 6.5/10
Sagna put on a good shift for City but had mixed results. The right-back picked up an assist for Aguero’s goal but slipped in the other end of the pitch, letting Llorente score the Swansea goal.
John Stones – 7.5/10
The English centre-half had another assured performance as he grows into the role, shaking off last season’s dip in form at Everton. He was strong in his tackles and headers and smooth in his passing.
However, he could have done more for Swansea’s goal by closing in on Llorente quicker instead of appealing for offside.
Nicolas Otamendi – 7/10
The Argentine centre-half had a workman-like display beside Stones, strong in handling Llorente, winning headers at both ends of the pitch. His performances this season will definitely ensure Kompany does not slot into the side immediately when fit.
Aleksandar Kolarov – 6.5/10
Kolarov was deployed at his natural left-back position today after playing centre-half in the previous league game against Bournemouth. He never looked entirely comfortable against Routledge which pinned his attacking game and had an underwhelming display in defence as well.
Fernandinho – 8/10
The midfield anchor for City delivered a now-typical all-industrious performance, showing top awareness, winning balls and starting out attacks. It was his cross-field pass to Sagna that led to Aguero’s opener.
Fernando’s introduction in the second half allowed Fernandinho to venture further and he should have scored a couple of goals. He missed a free header off a Silva corner and then could not beat Fabianski one-on-one.
Ilkay Gundogan – 7/10
The Manchester City No.8 had a good game as he showed good understanding with his teammates in his linkup play, especially with Aguero, de Bruyne and Silva. He continues to improve his match fitness and already looks to be a top buy for City.
David Silva – 7.5/10
The Spanish wizard made a fine return to the side after missing last weekend’s game due to injury. His silken touch, exquisite dribbling, and vision was there for all to see. He would have seen a goal or assist to his name on another day.
He picked up a yellow card for showing dissent in the second half, due to the new refereeing rules in place this season for player behaviour.
Kevin de Bruyne – 7.5/10
The Belgian playmaker had a forgettable first half as he was deployed on the right wing and was thwarted by Naughton number of times. He grew into the game in the second half when shifted to the central position.
He started finding space and it was his battling ability that won the penalty leading to City taking the lead. He went off with what looked like an injury which will worry Guardiola.
Raheem Sterling – 7.5/10
The 21-year old winger gave Rangel problems throughout the afternoon and combined in a few slick moves for City without an end product. He, however, changed that with a beautiful solo goal, beating Rangel and passing the ball into the net to make the win conclusive for the Citizens.
Sergio Aguero – 8.5/10
Aguero made a fine return back from suspension with a magnificent first touch and finish for the first goal and a cool penalty for the second goal. He struggled to get into the game in the first half after his first goal as Swansea defended well but was much more involved in the second half.
He has now scored 11 goals in all competitions this season.
Substitutes
Fernando – 6/10
He came on to replace Gundogan and did well to shield the City defence and preserve the lead.
Pablo Zabaleta – NA
Zabaleta came on late into the game and shored up the defence.
Jesus Navas – 6/10
Navas came on for de Bruyne with 10 minutes to go and could have added a City fourth with a fine run and shot at goal.
