Manchester City vs. Swansea: 6 Things We Learned

Bayern Munich are still the only visiting team to get anything more than a cup of tea at Manchester City this season, as a Samir Nasri brace inspired the hosts to their latest Etihad Stadium victory.

This time it was Swansea City who were on the receiving end, with Manuel Pellegrini's side turning on another impressive display to win 3-0 and earn a 10th victory in 11 home matches in all competitions in this campaign.

They are now seven from seven in the Premier League, with this win never really in doubt from the moment that Alvaro Negredo curled home a free-kick past visiting goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel in just the eighth minute.

Nasri then took over in the second half, first finishing well from a precise Yaya Toure pass, then getting on the end of a Pablo Zabaleta cross to slide home the third goal of the afternoon.

The win moves City up to third in the Premier League table, and ahead of what looks to be a big week in their challenge to win a second league title in three years, here are six things we learned from a comfortable afternoon for the hosts.

Alvaro Negredo: More Than Just a Target Man

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City fans knew this already, of course, but their Spanish forward has quickly demonstrated that he might just have found his natural home in England.

Negredo is capable of scoring all types of goals despite appearing to have the build of just a target man, and he showed that again with the fine free-kick which gave City the lead early on.

A little like Steven Gerrard's effort in Liverpool's clash with Hull earlier in the afternoon, Negredo was able to use the space created by a couple of his teammates in the wall to bend an effort into the far corner of the net.

You couldn't really imagine Edin Dzeko doing that, try as he might, and the Bosnian will likely have to get used to his spot on the bench for a little while longer.

Swansea Look Toothless Without Michu and Bony

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The quality of their opponents has to be taken into consideration, of course, but in just over three halves of football against Valencia and Manchester City without either one of the injured pair of Wilfried Bony and Michu, Swansea lacked a cutting edge.

Of the two, a return for the Spaniard looks closer, and he'll be needed ahead of what suddenly look to be a couple of big home games against Newcastle and Hull in the next week.

With the youngster Alvaro Vazquez, the eternally raw Jonjo Shelvey and the not quite fully fit Pablo Hernandez, Swansea never looked too likely to trouble a home defence which has had its concerns at times this season, although Jonathan de Guzman did miss a glorious chance just before half-time.

Swansea might not have expected to get anything here even if their forward pairing had been fit, but in their absence, they never put up much of a fight.

The Rebirth of Samir Nasri Continues

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It is a curious fact about Samir Nasri that his outstanding quality as a player isn't often readily acknowledged.

Perhaps it has something to do with a personality that seems to rub people up the wrong way, his status as seemingly an eternal squad player at City or the manner in which he left Arsenal, but it feels as though his abilities are never truly appreciated.

Here, though, the Frenchman was once again excellent.

A fantastic, albeit non-scoring, performance in the hammering of Tottenham was followed by a goal against Viktoria Plzen in midweek, and here he finished off two excellent passes from Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta to turn City's one goal half-time lead into a 3-0 success.

City might have thought that they were going to miss David Silva when he picked up an injury last month, but Nasri's displays have ensured that that isn't the case, and with the midfielder having still featured in every single one of City's league games this season, that "squad man" status should be long gone.

Sergio Aguero Is a Pest, Even When He Doesn't Score

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The Sergio Aguero that we see tormenting defenders week in and week out normally ends up with a goal or two to his name, but the one we saw here was arguably even more dangerous.

The forward was throwing himself around the pitch in a bid to add to his 10 Premier League goals this season, at one point even threatening to run through Swansea's Dwight Tiendalli in the hunt for a precious strike. The defender caught him heavily, but it wasn't long before he was back up again.

Moments later, he was seen acrobatically turning a shot over from close range after Fernandinho had found him in the penalty area, and although his afternoon was blotted somewhat with a booking before his 78th minute withdrawal, he'll be back looking to become the goalscoring Aguero that we all know at West Brom on Wednesday.

The Home Domination Continues

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Maybe the fact that City have had a run of five home games in their six fixtures in the past month has accentuated it somewhat, but they look unstoppable at the Etihad Stadium.

Those five home games have brought five wins, 25 City goals, the concession of just four—albeit none in the Premier League—and some very happy home fans, all of whom will have been left puzzled by just why this team cannot produce the same form when they go on their travels.

Because sandwiched in between those five games was the miserable showing and defeat at Sunderland, something that can't afford to be repeated when Manuel Pellegrini's men go to West Brom and Southampton in the next six days.

The Hawthorns and St Mary's will have to be treated as homes away from home in those games, because the Blues really can't afford to slip up on the road again.

The Table Is Beginning to Take Shape

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At half-time in the game at Stamford Bridge, it looked as though City could be ending the weekend second in the table.

The draw between Tottenham and Manchester United and Liverpool's 3-1 defeat at Hull earlier in the day were perfect results for Pellegrini's men, and although a second-half Chelsea comeback to beat Southampton prevented it from being the ideal afternoon for City, it was still a pretty good one.

Suddenly, the table shows Chelsea and City as the stalking horses behind top-of-the-table Arsenal, with Mourinho's and Pellegrini's heavyweights positioning themselves to hunt down Arsene Wenger's men.

The Gunners will always have seen those two as their biggest competition to what would be an unlikely title due to the sheer size and quality of their squad, but with both now facing tricky back-to-back away games in the next week (Chelsea go to Sunderland and then Stoke), it promises to be a fascinating few days for all involved.

And on this showing and many others recently, City mean business.