MANCHESTER CITY 4, STOKE CITY 0
Fernando’s near post header opens the scoring against Stoke City
Sergio Aguero’s penalty, his 101st in the Premier League, after Kelechi Iheanacho fouled in the area
Iheanacho scores 10th and 11th goal in just 8 starts for City
Yaya Toure sustains knee injury late on with all substitutes used
An easy 4-0 win over Stoke was just the tonic for a Manchester City side with one eye on a bigger fish arriving on Tuesday in their biggest ever game in the Champions League.
Goals by Fernando, Sergio Aguero, and a double by Kelechi Iheanacho crucially allowed City the chance to start conserving energy long before the end of the game against an injury ravaged Stoke side.
Victory gave City some important breathing space, moving them back to third place on 64 points, one point ahead of Arsenal who play tomorrow and five points ahead of Manchester United who were in FA Cup semi-final action at Wembley today.
The official attendance on the day was 53,974 although that seemed a little optimistic ahead of a sold-out Champions League tie against Real Madrid on Tuesday with swathes of empty seats visible throughout the game.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was delighted with his side’s performance to set them up for the visit of Real Madrid despite a dip at the start of the second half which offered Stoke a chance to reduce their 2-0 deficit.
“Maybe at the beginning we didn’t start the second half with same intensity as at the end of first.
“It was very important to have our mind focussed on this game and not Tuesday. Four goals and a clean sheet is important.
“We did exactly the same before the Paris St Germain game and won against Bournemouth the match before.”
Pellegrini confirmed that his team selection and substitutions were geared towards giving key players a rest prior to the Madrid game.
“We play eight games in 30 days so we needed rotation.” he explained. “”We made a good mix for the starting 11.”
“60 minutes was OK for Silva. Aguero has played games and got a rest and both Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho needed a rest.”
David Silva went down under a particularly rough first half tackle by Ryan Shawcross and was substituted early but Pellegrini confirmed that the Spain midfielder would be fit for the Madrid game and also confirmed that City captain Vincent Kompany was not risked today.
Of Kompany, he said: “It was a risk to play two games in 72 hours.
“If he played today and Tuesday he could have problems so it was better not to play him today.
“He worked this morning and doesn’t have any problems.”
City have two possible injury concerns for Tuesday, with Fernando having a pain in his knee and Yaya Toure sustaining an injury late in the Stoke game.
Pellegrini said: “We will see [about Fernando], I don’t think we will have any problems.
“Yaya will see the doctor tomorrow – he finished the game with a muscle injury.”
The Chilean hailed the contribution of youngster Kelechi Iheanacho, selected in today’s team, after he made the result safe in the second half for City.
He said: “He’s had a very important contribution not just for this game but for the next years at this club.
“He played very well and scored two goals and received a penalty.”
City made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 at Newcastle on Tuesday, with Nicolas Otamendi, David Silva and Kelechi Iheanacho coming in for Vincent Kompany, Fabian Delph and Kevin De Bruyne.
Kompany and De Bruyne were rested along with Fernandinho ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game at home to Real Madrid while Pablo Zabaleta made his 300th appearance for City today.
Nigerian youngster Iheanacho has featured 22 times for City this season but has only started three games for City.
It was his first since City’s 5-1 FA Cup defeat at Chelsea in February and his first league start since City’s game at Sunderland earlier that month.
And the Nigerian was in action early on after Aguero and Silva passes put him through and his first shot of five in the game curling just wide.
Both sides endured a sloppy start, with passes going astray and general wastefulness in front of goal.
The game was given a jolt in the 35th minute when a Jesus Navas cross found Fernando in plenty of space at the near post having lost his marker. The Brazilian’s near post flicked header went in at the back post.
Sergio Aguero scored his 101st Premier League goal for City, and his 28th of the season, past former Etihad favourite Shay Given after Iheanacho had been fouled by Ryan Shawcross in the 43rd minute.
Shay Given guessed right but couldn’t prevent the Argentine hitman from driving his spot kick above and beyond his reach to make it 2-0 before the break.
Chances came thick and fast in the second half in a frantic opening of the second period for both sides.
Phil Bardsley’s free kick was well wide, while Joselu continued to be wasteful in front of goal and Mame Biram Diouf’s header from Glenn Whelan’s corner would have been a goal had it been on target.
Marko Arnautovic had been Stoke’s best performer in the first half, and he drew a great save from Joe Hart on the hour mark when he cut inside and tried to catch the England ‘keeper at his near post but was denied by a flying save.
The Austrian had earlier provided telling passes for Diouf and Joselu only to see them wasted but he fell victim to the first half malaise with misplaced passes and was robbed inside the City area by Otamendi as he shaped to shoot.
Jakob Haugaard, who replaced Shay Given at half time after the former City keeper had sustained a groin injury during the first half, was tested by an Iheanacho shot from 25 yards out as City tried to extend their lead in the second half.
The young Nigerian grasped the opportunity to put the game beyond the visitors in the 65th minute when he coolly placed Pablo Zabaleta’s cut-back past Haugaard from 9 yards out.
And Iheanacho doubled his tally 10 minutes later when Wilfried Bony slipped a pass to him and the youngster raced away, rounded Haugaard, and slotted in City’s fourth of the game – his 11th goal of the season in just six starts.
With the game won, Pellegrini took the opportunity to given Aguero, Silva and Fernando a rest before the Champions League game next Tuesday.
Giannelli Imbula’s late free kick didn’t trouble Hart as Stoke failed to raise themselves for their travelling fans but there was a worrying moment for City with 6 minutes to go when Yaya Toure appeared to take a kick while chasing down a lost cause and seemed to spend the rest of the game a passenger with City having used up all their subs.