If Manchester City could play Bournemouth every week then the title race would probably have been wrapped up long ago. A clinical performance inspired by the returning Kevin De Bruyne saw Manuel Pellegrini’s side end their long wait for a Premier League away victory and keep alive any faint title hopes they may still harbour.
City’s decline since De Bruyne tore ligaments in his knee and ankle in the Capital One Cup semi-final victory over Everton in January has been stark. Trailing the leaders, Leicester, by three points and in second place, they have picked up seven points from the seven matches the Belgium international missed to reduce significantly the chances of sending Pellegrini off into the sunset with another championship winners’ medal.
“Kevin demonstrated how good a player he is,” City’s manager said in his typically understated manner.
The damning statistic before this match was that City were unbeaten in 16 matches against clubs in the bottom half of the table so it was hardly surprising to see them race into a 3-0 lead inside 20 minutes thanks to goals from Fernando, De Bruyne and Sergio Agüero against a side they had thrashed 5-1 in October.
But after a run of four defeats in six matches, it was the manner Bournemouth were swatted aside here that made an impression as City prepare for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain.
Deployed almost up alongside Agüero in a central attacking role, De Bruyne was into the action from the start as his clever backheel almost played in David Silva. From the resulting corner, Bournemouth should have cleared, but it still took an expert piece of readjustment from Fernando to hook the ball into the net.
The hosts, who were without striker Benik Afobe due to a hamstring injury, had created the opening chance of the game two minutes earlier only for Josh King to screw horribly wide when played through by Lewis Grabban. It was a moment they would live to regret.
City’s second goal was everything that a combined £116m in transfer fees should buy you. Agüero’s cunning lob played Silva in behind the defence and his ball to pick out the onrushing De Bruyne to lash home was simply sublime.
The Belgian – signed for a cool £54m last August – should probably have doubled his tally shortly afterwards but for once his radar was off target and the ball sailed over the bar.
It hardly mattered as Agüero effectively sealed the points in the 19th minute when he rose highest to nod home from Jesús Navas’s cross. A Fernandinho rocket from 25 yards that struck the woodwork spared Bournemouth more misery in a horribly one-sided first half.
“We played very well especially the first 45 minutes where we pressed high and scored three beautiful goals,” said Pellegrini.
“That gives you a lot of trust, as a team, and after that as individual players, when they have the performance they did. That’s the way I like to see this team play, that’s the style I like us to play the game.
“The most important thing was that we were focused just on this game, that’s the best way to prepare for the next game, which is a very important one in the Champions League.”
Even with games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United to come, Bournemouth should have no worries about preserving their Premier League status. But while recognising that his side had been beaten by a superior team, Eddie Howe admitted they must recover quickly from a second successive loss.
“From my perspective it doesn’t matter what stage of the season you want to win every game, you owe it to everyone at the club,” he said.
“I still don’t think we’re safe. I’ve told my players that. We’ve got work to do. We’ve played Tottenham and Man City and they’ve been too good for us.”
So disappointed was Howe by his side’s performance in the first half that the players were sent out for the second half five minutes early. Yet within 60 seconds of the restart normal service was resumed as Agüero was unlucky to see his effort saved by Artur Boruc. De Bruyne then slammed a shot just past the post as City continued to pour forward.
He was given a standing ovation when replaced by Aleksandar Kolarov soon after, with Samir Nasri also making his first appearance since the win over Bournemouth back in October.
Both spurned chances to seal this victory late on before Kolarov finally found the net in injury time, even if by that stage the match had been over as a contest for some time.
