Hull City 0-3 Manchester City player ratings: Guardiola surprise as he gets 8/10s from former misfit and defensive liability

Posted by

Pep Guardiola saw his side pick up all three points at Hull City on Boxing Day as Manchester City stay in the hunt at the top of the Premier League table.

The visitors ran out 3-0 winners thanks to a penalty from Yaya Toure, another goal from substitute Kelechi Iheanacho and a late own goal from Curtis Davies.

SEE MORE:
(Video) Kelechi Iheanacho goal: Man City star registers impressive stat with Hull strike

However, it didn’t all start so well for Guardiola as he lost defender John Stones to injury and will hope that it isn’t a serious setback as he can do without being without another defender in the weeks ahead.

Nevertheless, it didn’t affect them on Monday as they ran out comfortable winners without really hitting their top form and move back up to second place in the Premier League table and seven points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

Credit to Hull for making the title contenders work for their win for the opening 70 minutes, but despite a great effort from Mike Phelan’s side, they lacked the quality that City boast to make the difference and remain bottom of the table.

Toure was man of the match with a commanding display in the middle of the park as he seems to have turned things round entirely since being on the fringes at the start of the season, while there was a major surprise in defence with Nicolas Otamendi producing an uncharacteristically solid and impressive display at the back.

Manchester City player ratings: Bravo 6; Sagna 7, Otamendi 8, Stones 6, Clichy 7; Fernandinho 7, Toure 8; De Bruyne 7, Silva 7, Sterling 7; Nolito 6.

Substitutes: Iheanacho 7, Kolarov 7, Fernando 6.

More Stories Aleksandar Kolarov Bacary Sagna Claudio Bravo David Silva Fernandinho gael clichy John Stones Kelechi Iheanacho Kevin De Bruyne Nicolas Otamendi Nolito Raheem Sterling Yaya Toure