This was scruffy by Manchester City’s recent standards, but they still had far too much class for their opponents and duly collected their eighth Premier League win on the spin. Goals by Leroy Sané, Fernandinho and Raheem Sterling restored their five-point lead at the top of the table.
Strikes for West Brom by Jay Rodriguez and Matt Phillips briefly introduced a smidgen of suspense into this contest, but ultimately served only as tantalising reminders that City do have vulnerabilities. The question is whether anyone will be able to exploit those often enough to prevent them from sashaying to the title. Pep Guardiola scoffed at Jürgen Klopp’s suggestion that City could have the title wrapped up ridiculously early.
“Have you ever known a team to win the title by January? Me neither, it’s totally unrealistic,” he said, before adding how satisfied he was that his team have shown no signs of over-confidence. “When you win a lot of games in a row there is a risk of being ‘OK we can do less and we are going to win the same’, but the way we played from the beginning here showed me a lot. You can’t win all the time by five or six goals. That is not football at the highest level.”
He did believe, mind you, that City should have won at least 5-1 here. “We want to win titles so we need to be clinical,” he said.
He had a point. City squandered a clutch of late chances with Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and David Silva all uncharacteristically wayward in front of goal.
City had found West Brom to be awkward opponents when they visited here last month in the Carabao Cup, eventually winning 2-1 thanks to a pair of goals by Sané. The German picked up where he left off by opening the scoring in the 10th minute. The defence was cut asunder by Fernandinho’s sharp low pass, allowing Sané to slam a shot past Ben Foster.
The goalkeeper appeared to be taken by surprise by the sudden ferocity of Sané’s shot but three minutes later it was City’s turn to be shocked, as West Brom drew level. They had already hinted at an ability to catch City out at the back when, in the fifth minute, Salomón Rondón ran on to a pass over the top by Grzegorz Krychowiak before John Stones got back to smother the danger. Stones was unable to bail out his team in the 13th minute when Gareth Barry’s chip found Rodriguez, who lifted the ball over the advancing Ederson and into the net.
Luck turned against Barry two minutes later when he attempted to block Fernandinho’s low shot from 25 yards but succeeded only in helping it into the net via the post. Barry did not deserve such ill-fortune but Fernandinho could be said to have earned a good break as he was among City’s best performers.
In the 26th minute City’s hypnotic passing lulled West Brom to sleep and David Silva was able to get on the end of a delightful pass by De Bruyne, but the Spaniard headed over the bar .
West Brom seldom managed to carry the play down to the other end of the pitch but when they did they made City uncomfortable. A panicky slice by Fabian Delph in the 33rd minute enabled Rondón to send a header goalward from 10 yards, but not with enough power to alarm Ederson.
Sirens also sounded for the goalkeeper in the early minutes of the second half when Krychowiak crept in unnoticed at the back post to be on the end of a cross from the right, but his header turned out to be as weak as Rondon’s.
Sterling came off the bench on the hour to quash the home team’s resistance. Replacing Bernardo Silva, who had been tidy but not incisive, the England winger finished off an intricate City move in the 63rd minute, sidefooting a cross by Kyle Walker into the net.
Tony Pulis threw on Matt Phillips in pursuit of a comeback that never looked likely. West Brom mustered enough of a threat to expose more nervousness in City’s defence – encapsulated by Nicolás Otamendi’s yellow card for a wild tackle on Jake Livermore – but could not bother Ederson until stoppage time. That was when Otamendi goofed again, unwittingly chesting a cross by Barry into the path of Philipps, who poked the ball into the net from five yards. That was not enough to salvage a draw but it might have proved a point: that West Brom can be dangerous when they attack.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion