Manchester City’s ‘crisis’ seemed to be a thing of fiction following Friday night’s emphatic 5-0 win over West Ham at the Olympic Stadium.
Pablo Zabaleta, operating in central midfield, won City a debatable penalty midway through the first half after a fairly even start to the game. Yaya Toure converted the spot kick, maintaining his 100% penalty record (14 from 14) for City.
West Ham winger Sofiane Feghouli had the chance to bring the home side level shortly after but somehow missed an empty net from three yards.
From then on, it was City’s game for the taking. Two marvellous goals from Raheem Sterling (Nordtveit own goal) and David Silva gave the Blues a three-goal cushion going into the interval.
The romp did not stop there, however. Sergio Aguero got his deserved goal when he redirected Yaya Toure’s mishit shot to lob Adrian from close range. Under-fire centre-back John Stones completed the demolition with a bullet header in the closing minutes.
But how did each individual perform? Here’s our player ratings for the match:
Willy Caballero - 6
Solid display from the Argentine. Distribution was good but West Ham did very little in the way of troubling him. Could certainly rival Claudio Bravo for the number one spot based on this performance.
Bacary Sagna - 8
His assist for Raheem Sterling’s goal (Nordtveit own goal but Sterling deserves it) was fantastic and Sagna also did very well in stopping West Ham winger Michail Antonio.
Nicolas Otamendi - 6
You know that it was a brilliant team display when Otamendi doesn’t lose his head at some point. It was the first match for a while that he hasn’t made an erratic but, like Caballero, he wasn’t provided with much of a challenge.
John Stones - 7
A few long-range wayward passes were rectify with a phenomenal header to score City’s fifth goal. Very humble in the post-match interview, too, which is always nice to see.
Gael Clichy - 7
Despite recent speculation about City’s full-backs, Clichy followed up his goal against Burnley with another solid performance. It helped that he didn’t have to do much defensively but his attacking play was very good.
Pablo Zabaleta - 8
Zabaleta has to continue to play as a central midfielder. He has struggled, at times, this season when at right-back but now looks natural as a midfielder. He loves to attack and the defensive workload is too much for him now. Keep him there, Pep.
Yaya Toure - 8
What a brilliant man he is. Toure has come from the abyss to become one of City’s most influential players. Another stellar performance saw him leave the pitch while exchanging smiles with Guardiola. Good signs.
Kevin De Bruyne - 7
I never thought I’d say this: De Bruyne was probably the least effective attacking player for City. A brilliant cross-field ball to Silva and some great build-up play, but the Belgian certainly wasn’t in the spotlight tonight.
David Silva - 9
All hail, Merlin. This was, by far, Silva’s best performance in some time. He pulled the strings in midfield and showed excellent composure. Truly stunning; my Man of the Match.
Raheem Sterling - 8
Sterling’s directness has been taken to new levels in recent weeks and he delivered again. He was a constant pest for the West Ham backline, and it’s great to see him back at the top of his game.
Sergio Aguero - 8
Aguero’s rest(ish) against Burnley proved to make the Argentine even more hungry for goals and, with his deft touch to lift Yaya Toure’s shot over a helpless Adrian, he is now City’s third highest goalscorer of all-time, overtaking the one and only Colin Bell.
Substitutes
Nolito (6), Aleix Garcia (6) and Fabian Delph (6): Pretty much the same for all of them. The game had began to slow down and they injected life into it to add a fifth. All very solid displays.