Manchester City Down Aston Villa at the Etihad, 3-0: Reaction & Tweets

Manchester City turned it around with a fantastic second-half display to beat Aston Villa 3-0 at the Etihad.

Goals from Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan ended the game, with the result moving City back above Leicester into second place in the Premier League table.

Another win and City move closer to the top.

On to the reaction:

Pep Guardiola Reaction

“Raheem played in the first half to score a goal,” said the boss.

“He showed us the energy we need. The way he played the first half showed us what we should do, where we should go and we did it.

“The only person in the first half who was aggressive was Raheem. In the second half we imitated him.

“What I liked the most is after scoring three goals against Atalanta, everybody talks in the media how good you are.

“Usually the next game you play like ‘how good am I’ (letting the praise go to your head).

“He was the complete opposite. That is our strength as a team in the last years together. I am so proud of Raheem.”

“Gabriel and Sergio can play together, depending on the opponent’s system,” said the manager.

“Gabriel sometimes plays on the left for the national team. He is not specific winger like Raheem, Bernardo, Leroy and Riyad, but he can play there when we need more players in the box.

“He has an incredible work ethic, he can help us with runs in behind. His diagonal movement is so good.”

Ilkay Gundogan Reaction

“We always feel when we’re able to score the first goal or an early goal, we feel like we are unstoppable,” he stated.

“At half-time, the manager wanted us all to step forward. We created some chances in the first half but it was obvious there was something missing.

“He mentioned that in the dressing room and it helped a lot that we scored within a minute and then went on to get the second as well.

“It was a bit about patience – we could have done better in the first half but the second half was really good.”

Gundogan laughed that he was not aware whose was the final touch – but that it did not matter.

“I actually have no idea!” he conceded. “I didn’t even see the goal!

“I just thought it was deflected and I didn’t know whether it hit David or a defender.

“I’ll have to review it!”

“If I’m needed (at CB), I’m ready to help the team wherever. If I’m needed to play at centre-back for many games, I will try my best to help the team but I don’t think it’s that far yet.

“We’re unlucky at the moment and the red card doesn’t help but we’ll still have a great team on the pitch.”

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