Bournemouth vs. Manchester City: Score, Reaction from 2016 Premier League Game

Manchester City kept up the pressure on the Premier League’s top three with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side came flying out of the traps on the south coast, with goals from Fernando, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero giving them a 3-0 lead with just 19 minutes on the clock.

Aleksandar Kolarov then added gloss to the result with a well-taken second-half strike, as City ended a run of three games without a victory in all competitions.

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Manchester City hadn’t scored a goal in competitive football since their 4-0 win over Aston Villa back on March 5, but they wasted no time in putting an end to that drought against Bournemouth.

It took the visitors just seven minutes to take the lead, and it came through an unlikely source.

A Jesus Navas corner came through a crowd of bodies to Fernando on the penalty spot, and he elegantly placed it into the corner to notch up his first goal in over a year, as Sky Sports Statto revealed:

City were handed a big boost before kick-off with the return of the mercurial De Bruyne, who was starting his first match since January.

The Belgian was controlling the match in the early exchanges, and just five minutes after Fernando opened the scoring, he doubled City’s lead after finding himself on the end of a flowing move.

Aguero flicked the ball into David Silva inside the Bournemouth box, he laid it off to De Bruyne on the edge of the area, and the midfielder made no mistake with a lethal strike into the bottom corner.

The Guardian’s Ed Aarons commented on a superb strike:

Bournemouth were caught cold, but it got worse before it got better for the Cherries, who simply couldn’t keep hold of the ball.

With 19 minutes on the clock, Aguero made it 3-0. Navas once again turned provider, as his run to the byline and chip into the box was nodded home by the Argentinian.

Aguero has been in exceptional form since the turn of the year, and his strike at the Vitality Stadium took him to double figures for 2016, as Squawka Football revealed:

From then on, it was a case of damage limitation for Eddie Howe’s men, yet they came out in the second half looking a lot more of a threat.

Matt Richie was causing plenty of problems for the City defence on the flanks, but his final ball just let him down.

Lewis Grabban also went close with a snapshot, but Pellegrini’s men always looked the side more likely to score, which they did in the dying embers of the match.

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Kolarov, who came on for the impressive De Bruyne, marauded forward from left-back before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the corner of Artur Boruc’s net.

The 4-0 win keeps City in the hunt for the Premier League title, and with fixtures against the struggling West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United to come, they’ll be looking to pile the pressure on the leaders.

First up for City, though, it’s a tough-looking trip to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, when they’ll hope for another impressive display.

Post-Match Reaction

Following the match, City manager Pellegrini cut a very satisfied figure, and he told BBC Sport that he was very impressed with the way his side played:

"Our style of play was the way I like us to play. The most important thing was to return to our style of play. We played very well, especially the first half where we pressed very high, and scored three beautiful goals."

Howe, meanwhile, wasn't in particularly high spirits, saying that the 4-0 defeat was difficult for him to watch:

"

The first goal was probably the most disappointing one because it was from a set-play, a poor ball in really, and we have not dealt with it. When you give a good team an early goal it gives them a lift and it makes it very difficult. It was a long game from 3-0 down so credit to the players that they did not cave in but it was a difficult watch, especially early on. 

"