Manchester City regained second place in the standings and reduced differences with the Liverpool leader after winning at Etihad Stadium at Aston Villa 3-0 on the 10th day of the Premier League. After a first time without goals despite his clear dominance, the City knocked down the wall of the 'villains' thanks to Raheem Sterling (min. 46) and sentenced with goals from Kevin De Bruyne (min. 65) and Ilkay Gundogan (min .70).

"I don't know if in the second part we played well because we scored soon or because we played differently, but we won. It was a special second half, we were at another level," Pep Guardiola analyzed. "If we play like this we will continue fighting for the title until the end of the season, but if we do it as in the first half we will be forced to fight for the relegation positions," said the Spaniard. "We don't play as we should. The only one who was aggressive with the ball was Raheem," he added in reference to Sterling, his best asset in this course start.

After a complicated start to the season, with sensitive losses in defense, the current champion tries to cut the differences with respect to the 'Reds', which reached eight points. Fragile behind, even more after knowing the injuries of Rodri and Oleksandr Zinchenko, the City clings to its offensive power to continue in the gap.

Five more goals

The 'Skyblues' total 32 goals in 10 days, five more than last year. After their forceful 5-1 to Atalanta on Tuesday, they also boast 10 points in three Champions games.

In spite of everything, that clairvoyance in the rival area did not appear in the Etihad Stadium until the second half. City tried by all means to open the scoring, but Aston Villa resisted exactly 45 minutes. As soon as the second half began, Gabriel Jesus extended with a head a high ball that Sterling received to the race. The extreme fast penetrated the area and with the left beat Tom Heaton.

Red to Fernandinho

From there the local siege was even more pronounced and those in blue would see the door twice more. The first through De Bruyne, who put a center that found no auctioneer, but confused the goalkeeper before meeting the network.

The second, shortly after, after a noise at the exit of a corner kick, Gundogan hunted the ball acrobatically (min. 70) to throw the blind to victory (3-0). The only bad news for the locals was the expulsion of Fernandinho for a yellow double in the 87th minute of the afternoon that turned his 200th match in the Premier League. The midfielder is the third Brazilian to reach this figure, after Lucas Leiva (247) and William (206).

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