Manchester City made it three wins out of three under Pep Guardiola as they ran out 3-1 winners over a depleted West Ham.
Manchester City went into the match as heavy favourites owing to the injury plagued West Ham first-team squad. Guardiola’s side ran away to a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game thanks to a superb display by Sterling, who was amazing throughout the match, along with the impressive vision of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.
West Ham replied after the first half to bring the score back to 2-1 but the Hammers could not find an equalizer. Their defence was caught on the break by a pacey City frontline as Sterling scored his second of the match in the stoppage time to seal another win for the blue half of Manchester.
There was praise all over the twitter-verse for Raheem Sterling, who seems to have found a new life under Pep Guardiola.
Sterling is like a complete different player under Pep pic.twitter.com/43ytN8JXES
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) August 28, 2016
Raheem Sterling: Has directly contributed to 5 goals in his last 3 apps for Manchester City (2 goals, 3 assists) #MCIWHU
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) August 28, 2016
Raheem Sterling under Pep Guardiola so far: Two goals, three assists. ?? pic.twitter.com/TmMyALCeX6
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) August 28, 2016
Raheem Sterling under Pep Guardiola so far:
4 games
1 goal
3 assistshttps://t.co/5tIvdWeVBX pic.twitter.com/SmFOGJ9g8I— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) August 28, 2016
Good to see Raheem Sterling shine under Guardiola, after a very difficult summer.
— Pratyush Peddireddi (@crawlinchoklet) August 28, 2016
The fans reserved special praise for the manager too as City made a flawless start to the season under the Spaniard’s tutelage.
Pep Guardiola’s league record at home:
129 games
111 wins
10 draws
8 lossesNo place like home. pic.twitter.com/l3I6WP6gdF
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 28, 2016
Amazing how quick Guardiola has turned around Man City’s way of playing
— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) August 28, 2016
Audible slap of Guardiola’s thighs as Sterling loses possession. Seems to take it as a personal affront every time City are without the ball
— James Robson (@JamesRobsonMEN) August 28, 2016
Guardiola’s tactics ?
— flinze junior (@Flinzejunior) August 28, 2016
People also did not fail to highlight the possible consequences of an Aguero elbow that went unnoticed by the referee and even the City manager Pep Guardiola.
JEEEEZZZ
Naughty elbow from Aguero that!!!!
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) August 28, 2016
The Manchester Derby, the one game I want City to win and it’s a game Aguero will and should miss. Damn. Poor timing to throw an elbow.
— Jon Andrews (@JonAndrews84) August 28, 2016
If Costa had done what Aguero has today it would be on the front pages tomorrow. Retrospective action?
— Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) August 28, 2016
If Costa had done what Aguero did today, entire media will be labelling him as a criminal more dangerous than Pablo Escobar.
— Fantasy Updates&Tips (@FPLUpdates_Tips) August 28, 2016
Guardiola didn’t see Aguero elbow but knows potential consequences. “if we lose him, we lose him . . we will still have 11.”
— Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian) August 28, 2016
I really do dislike the “If it was _____,” refrain, but it’d be interesting to see the coverage of Aguero elbow in relation to others.
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) August 28, 2016
Aguero facing ban for games against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Swansea City for that elbow on Reid.
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) August 28, 2016
It remains to be seen whether Aguero would face a retrospective ban that would result in the Argentinian missing the vital Manchester derby, which could be a massive blow to City’s hopes of a win against their cross-town rivals.