The Blues have already raided Brentford twice and it was only last week that Pep Guardiola was praising the work of Jack Wilson together with Carlos Vicens in producing goals from dead balls in successive matches. Five days on, Brentford were celebrating as Ivan Toney cleverly blocked off Nathan Ake to allow the ball to bounce all the way through to Neal Maupay for the striker to slot home the opening goal.
It was everything Guardiola had feared about Brentford, a side who had done the double over them last season and shown in their meetings an ability to neutralise the Blues and then punish them with precise play. It was also the sort of goal the manager would have been mocked for during his first season in England - a Route One effort smashing through and making more impact on the scoresheet than City's buffet of good chances missed.
Five Premier League titles in six years have meant that Guardiola is the one doing the laughing these days, and his City team were too good for a set-piece special, a goalkeeping masterclass from Mark Flekken, or the flicker of a summer transfer to steal the headlines.
For the fifth away league game in a row, City went behind. And for the fifth away league agame in a row, City came from behind to win.
This was a victory for patience, and a victory for consistency. The Blues had been the better team before the 21stminute opener with Flekken called into terrific saves from Julian Alvarez and Kyle Walker, but conceding them.
There were about 10 minutes that followed where they made uncharacteristic mistakes, with Bernardo Silva particularly culpable as he hoofed an aimless ball that put needless pressure on Ederson and Nathan Ake.
However, that passed and in the meantime the assault on Flekken's goal continued with Erling Haaland, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden all seeing shots saved.
This story is from the February 06, 2024 edition of Manchester Evening News.
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This story is from the February 06, 2024 edition of Manchester Evening News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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