Premier League champions Manchester City were in a rampant mood as they thrashed Bournemouth 6-1 at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon.
Premier League
Result: Manchester City 6-1 Bournemouth
Date: 04 November 2023
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Pep Guardiola made four changes from the win over Manchester United, as Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku and Manuel Akanji replaced Jack Grealish, Gvardiol, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden.
The home side dominated as expected and they had there chances early on, with Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland going close with efforts from outside in the opening ten minutes.
The woodwork came to Bournemouth's rescue after 22 minutes when Julian Alvarez did well to pock out Haaland, who saw his header tipped onto the upright by Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly.
City did get their breakthrough in the 30th minute as Doku played a neat one-two with Drodri before unleashing a first-time strike that sails into the bottom corner via a deflection.
The lead was doubled three minutes later when Doku turned provider and did well to pick out Bernardo Silva, who sent a composed finish into the bottom corner for his second league goal of the season.
Guardiola's men were in no mood to slow down after getting a third goal eight minutes before the interval, with Doku's shot deflecting in off Akanji, who was awarded the goal.
Haaland had a particularly quiet opening 45 minutes but that's when his evening came to an end after he was replaced by Phil Foden at the start of the second half after picking up an apparent knock.
While Bournemouth did show a bit more resolve in the second half, that didn't stop the home side from adding more goals as Foden got his name on the score-sheet on 65 minutes after collecting a pass from Doku before firing home.
The Cherries did manage to pull a goal back with 15 minutes to play as Luis Sinisterra got his first goal of the campaign with a composed finish after getting on the end of Max Aarons' cross.
However, City got a fifth goal with seven minutes to go as Doku grabbed another assist by playing in Silva who carved out some space in the box before lobbing the Bournemouth goalkeeper.
Former Bournemouth defender Ake rounded off the scoring on 88 minutes as the Dutch defender nodded home a cross from substitute Oscar Bobb to wrap up an eventful afternoon.
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