- Man City defeat Brentford
- Ran away with it in second half
- Defenders no match for Jeremy Doku
Manchester City needed a win against Brentford in the Premier League and this is exactly what they delivered.
The Bees are chasing a European spot and it was clear they were going to do everything in their power to make life difficult for the Citizens.
However, Pep Guardiola orchestrated a victory, with Man City become much more of a threat in the second half.
Here are five things we observed from an important 3-0 victory which has kept City’s hopes of a Premier League trophy alive.
Jeremy Doku stole the show again
Doku was Man City’s star player against Everton on Monday night, and this evening was more of the same. The Belgian had a field day with Michael Kayode, constantly taking the ball around the defender.
He was City’s most creative player by far and came up with another special strike, which put the hosts ahead.
You could tell where the ball was going the moment it left his foot as it nestled into the top right corner.
Doku and Rayan Cherki were tightly marked
The success Doku had was certainly not due to Brentford failing to do their job. After all, the winger always seemed to have a couple of defenders trying to cause him problems.
Ultimately, there was only going to be one winner and that was Doku. Still, the Bees did have more joy when it came to disrupting Cherki.
The 22-year-old is usually a bright spark, but he was surrounded whenever he received the ball in the central attacking areas.
City look vulnerable to counter attacks
Brentford were unable to stop Man City from recording a clean sheet, but there were some counter attacking chances for the visiting team.
City were caught out in this way against Everton, and there were moments when the defensive line did not seem completely in-sync.
It is essential that the Sky Blues do not allow their high line to be exploited, because otherwise the opposition could score goals against the run of play.
Pep Guardiola is still trying to figure out Rodri’s best replacement
Guardiola made two changes from the team who took on Everton, with Tijjani Reijnders and Nathan Ake coming in.
Ake played the whole match, but Reijnders only lasted 58 minutes before he was replaced in a double substitution.
The match before, Nico Gonzalez started, while it was Nico O’Reilly who was moved into midfield to face Burnley.
It has become very clear that when Rodri is out, Guardiola does not know which of his alternatives is the best fit. Therefore the sooner the Spaniard is fit again, the better.
Man City still have a chance to win the Premier League
City’s performance against Brentford was not particularly good, but they did enough in the second half to get the job done.
Arsenal are two points clear at the top of the Premier League table, but West Ham have the chance to change everything on Sunday.
The Gunners are still the best placed team to win the Premier League, but Man City just need to keep grinding out results to keep up the fight.
