Thursday, August 22, 2013

Manchester City thrash Newcastle to go top

Sergio Aguero and David Silva celebrate scoring for Manchester City to help set up victory against Newcastle.

(CNN) -- Manchester City's million dollar summer signings were paraded in their first Premier League game of the season but it was City's old guard who earned a priceless first win for new manager Manuel Pellegrini.

David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri all scored as Manchester City sailed past Newcastle United 4-0.

The victory saw City overhaul local rivals, defending champions Manchester United, at the top of the Premier League table after the first round of matches.

The result also compounded a dismal start to the new season for Newcastle -- who were reduced to 10 men -- as the defeat saw them rooted to the bottom of the table.

Manchester City have splashed the case in the summer transfer window and there was close to $100m worth of new talent on display at the Etihad Stadium.

Pellgrini gave full debuts to Spanish winger Jesus Navas and Brazilian Fernandinho in a revamped midfield before bringing on Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo in the second half.

Negredo had a goal disallowed late on but the core of the team created by former manager Roberto Mancini had already given the new Chilean boss value for money against Newcastle.

Read: Pellegrini named as Mancini's successor

"It's a very good start but I was very confident that the team would play well," Pellegrini told the media after the match.

"We worked very hard during preseason, we were trying another style of football and we must continue to improve but for the first match, it was good.

"The most pleasing aspect was the way the team played for 90 minutes, from the beginning the attitude was aggressive and we continued to play that way for the whole match."

City were unleashed at the whistle and Edin Dzeko and Pablo Zabaleta --who signed a new four year contract to stay at City earlier on Monday -- both came close to scoring.

With barely six minutes on the clock, Silva headed in Dzeko's cross to see City's lively start to the match rewarded.

Aguero found the bottom corner to send City into the break 2-0 up and things got worse for Newcastle when Steven Taylor was show a red card for swiping the Argentine striker with his arm.

Toure glided in a free kick to stretch City's advantage and substitute Nasri pounced on a loose ball to complete the rout.

The only downside for City was the exit of captain Vincent Kompany with a suspected groin injury.

The result underlined City's credentials as championship contenders for their third season in a row.

After the first round of Premier League matches, the two Manchester clubs top the standings ahead of Aston Villa and Chelsea.

There were also wins for would be title challengers Liverpool and Tottenham while Arsenal suffered the misery of a home defeat to Villa.


Via: Manchester City thrash Newcastle to go top

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