David Silva inspired Manchester City to a 2-0 victory over Stoke City in their Premier League encounter at the bet365 on Monday evening, writes DEAN WORKMAN.
Pep Guardiola was unable to select Sergio Aguero due to a knee injury, but the Argentina star’s absence was hardly noticed as City edged a little closer to the Premier League title, with Silva stealing the show.
Any chance of struggling Stoke causing an upset looked over as early as the 10th minute, as Silva opened the scoring with aplomb after good work from Raheem Sterling – back from five games out with a hamstring injury.
The league leaders doubled their advantage early in the second half, with Silva again providing a good finish after a well-worked move involving Gabriel Jesus – starting his first Premier League game of the year.
Stoke threatened to pull one back just after the hour, but Bruno Martins Indi shot over from close range and from there they looked devoid of hope as the visitors tightened their grip.
City were unable to add further goals despite their dominance, but it mattered little as they re-established a 16-point gap at the summit and secured a first league double over Stoke since 1998-99, when they were both in the third tier.
Much was made pre-game about Stoke’s need to keep things tight and ensure they were still in the game during the final 20 minutes in order to maximise the impact of their partisan support.
But after just 10 minutes, they found themselves trailing.
Jesus released Sterling up the right flank and he played a low first-time cross into the danger zone, with Silva arriving to guide home in expert fashion.
Stoke nearly levelled soon after, but Badou Ndiaye’s 20-yard effort was deflected agonisingly wide of the bottom-left corner following fine play out wide by Xherdan Shaqiri.
Although the visitors remained on top, they nearly shot themselves in the foot nine minutes before the break, but goalkeeper Ederson was able to tip the ball over the posts to stop a Kyle Walker own goal after the defender cleared a long ball back.
Jack Butland had to be similarly alert a few minutes later, getting down to his left to push Fernandinho’s long-range strike away.
Butland was helpless five minutes after the interval, though, as Silva found Jesus and the Brazilian played a looping return pass into the area for the Spaniard, who neatly tucked it away despite the English goalkeeper approaching.
Fernandinho went close to adding a third a few moments later, bursting through the middle before linking with Kevin De Bruyne and then shooting into the side-netting.
Stoke boss Paul Lambert introduced Peter Crouch from the bench in the 63rd minute and he made an immediate impact, heading down a free-kick to Martins Indi, who blasted over from about eight yards.
Sterling should have rounded things off 12 minutes from time when he pounced upon an error after a drop-ball incident and charged through on goal, but he tried to round Butland instead of squaring to Jesus and that allowed Ndiaye to make a last-ditch tackle.
