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Sunderland 1-4 Manchester City: Sergio Aguero sublime as Stevan Jovetic and Pablo Zabaleta chip in to break Black Cats curs
For
all the change that Abu Dhabi wealth has brought to Manchester City, one
thing remained the same: they couldn’t buy a win on Wearside.
Not since the day before Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in the summer of 2008 had City tasted victory at the Stadium of Light.
One of the Premier League’s more peculiar statistics had seen them suffer four consecutive 1-0 defeats here before this game.
How? Goodness knows. It was just one of those quirky things that football throws up sometimes.
VIDEO Scroll down for Sportsmail's Big Match Stats: Sunderland 1-4 Manchester City
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero celebrates his first of two against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light
MATCH FACTS, STATS, TABLE AND RATINGS BY CRAIG HOPE
SUNDERLAND (4-1-4-1):
Pantilimon 5.5; Vergini 5.5, O'Shea 6, Coates 5, Reveillere 5;
Cattermole 6; Buckley 5.5, Larsson 7, Rodwell 5.5, Wickham 6.5 (Alvarez
67mins, 6); Fletcher 6 (Altidore 5.5, 55)
Subs not used: Bridcutt, Brown, Cabral, Gomez, Mannone
Scorer: Wickham 19
Booked: Cattermole
MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1):
Hart 6; Zabaleta 7, Boyata 6.5, Demichelis 6.5, Clichy 6.5; Toure 6.5,
Fernandinho 7; Navas 7.5, Nasri 7 (Pozo 84), Jovetic 6.5 (Milner 6.5,
55); Aguero 9 (Lampard 6, 74)
Subs not used: Cabellero, Angelino, Sagna, Fernando
Scorers: Aguero 21, 71; Jovetic 39; Zabaleta 55
Booked: Boyata
Referee: Craig Pawson 7
MOTM: Aguero
Attendance: 41, 152
After
City announced reduced annual losses of £22.9million and chairman
Khaldoon Al Mubarak spoke about the lavish spending coming to an end, it
was one of their more extravagant buys who laid that jinx to rest.
Sergio
Aguero cost £38m but, as he continues to justify comparisons with
Cristiano Ronaldo and his close friend Lionel Messi, the Argentina
striker looks like an absolute steal. Aguero scored two goals — one a
blockbuster — and set up another. The Premier League’s top scorer now
has 19 goals in all competitions this season.
Manager
Manuel Pellegrini, who has now overseen four straight wins in all
competitions, said: ‘Finally we win here. We played very well and we’re
returning to the form we had last season.’
Pellegrini
confirmed that captain Vincent Kompany has only an outside chance of
making next week’s Champions League decider against Roma following scans
on his hamstring.
In the absence of Kompany and the suspended Eliaquim Mangala, Dedryck Boyata made his first Premier League appearance in a year.
Connor Wickham opens the scoring in the 19th minute as he beats City's defence to poke Sebastian Larsson's cross beyond Joe Hart
Steven Fletcher climbs onto Wickham's shoulders as the pair celebrate taking the lead against City
Aguero pulls the trigger and blasts his shot towards Costel Pantilimon's goal
The Argentine striker's shot had too much power for the Romanian keeper to handle
Helpless Pantilimon (right) rises to his feet as Aguero's celebrations commence
Sunderland
boss Gus Poyet also made a switch in central defence as he rested Wes
Brown and gave Sebastian Coates his first League start since arriving on
loan from Liverpool in the summer.
Both changes contributed to two goals in the space of three first-half minutes.
Sunderland
had been the only team to really threaten up to that point when Pablo
Zabaleta blocked an effort from former City midfielder Jack Rodwell.
Zabaleta
was not so fortunate in the 19th minute as Connor Wickham — who
terrorised City with both goals in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad in April
that almost cost them the title — opened the scoring.
Boyata
had lost track of his man when Seb Larsson’s clever reverse pass picked
out Wickham, who took it in his stride with a neat first touch. There
was still plenty of work to do with Boyata on one shoulder, Zabaleta on
the other and Joe Hart racing off his line.
Zabaleta
made a last, desperate attempt to win the ball with a sliding tackle
but only succeeded in playing it against Wickham’s right leg and it
bobbled past Hart into the corner.
Sunderland's Steven Fletcher (second left) is denied a chance on goal by City defender Martin Demichelis
Stevan Jovetic unleashes his left-footed shot to put City in the lead at the Stadium of Light
Jovetic's shot ends almost directly behind 6ft 8in keeper Pantilimon as City go up 2-1
Jovetic points out his provider Aguero after finishing off a slick build-up from City
Aguero (left) and Jovetic (right) celebrate as their combination puts City in the lead
VIDEO Premier League is well within our grasp - Aguero
Sunderland
1, City 0 had a horribly familiar ring about it for the champions, but
they rallied and were level almost straightaway. Coates will not want to
see too many replays of the equaliser, however.
Aguero
appeared to have lost control of the ball when he took an
uncharacteristically heavy touch to collect Stevan Jovetic’s short pass,
but Coates hesitated rather than committing himself to a challenge.
The City striker slipped the ball through the Uruguyan’s legs and suddenly had a clear sight of goal from 20 yards.
Ex-City
keeper Costel Pantilimon must have known what was coming next, but the
strike was stunning in its ferocity even by Aguero’s standards — flying
into the net off his right boot.
Having
demonstrated his power, Aguero then produced some quite wonderful
panache to set up the second for Jovetic six minutes before half time.
Yaya Toure drilled a pass into his teammate, who was being closely marshalled by Coates and John O’Shea.
City right back Pablo Zabaleta celebrates his second half goal, City's third, with a gesture to his pregnant wife Christel
Zabaleta married long-time girlfriend Christel, from Spain, in the summer and the couple are due to have a baby
Zabaleta waits for Pantilimon to go
down and calmly dinks his shot over the keeper for a finish any striker
would be delighted with
Unfortunately
for Sunderland, that meant Jovetic was unmarked and Aguero knew it. He
used the weight of the pass to spin the ball into his teammate’s path
with a flick of his right foot.
Jovetic let it bounce once and then rifled it through Pantilimon’s legs.
The
gulf in class between the two teams was clear again when Zabaleta got
City’s third 10 minutes into the second half. Again Coates stood off his
man as Samir Nasri teased the defender on the righthand side of the box
before cheekily lifting the ball into the path of Zabaleta.
The Argentina defender then produced an even better touch, dinking the ball over Pantilimon and just inside the post.
Zabaleta
celebrated the news that his wife is five months pregnant by putting
the ball up his shirt and sucking his thumb like a dummy.
The jeers from the Sunderland supporters suggested they did not share his joy at that particular moment.
But
this was the Aguero show and he struck again in the 71st minute,
getting away from Santiago Vergini to meet James Milner’s pass and guide
it past Pantilimon for his second and City’s fourth.
‘I was hoping Aguero would have a rest today,’ lamented Poyet. ‘Without him, it would have been a different game. ‘
The
striker was substituted soon after scoring his second and no wonder. On
this form, City must protect Aguero like the Crown Jewels.
The ball clears the giant keeper as Black Cats captain John O'Shea fails to intervene in time to stop the defender
Aguero celebrates his second goal of the night before soon after being substituted for Frank Lampard
Manuel Pellegrini warmly greets Aguero as his star striker is replaced in the 74th minute
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