Sergio Aguero and David Silva celebrate scoring
for Manchester City to help set up victory
against Newcastle.
Manchester City's million dollar
summer signings were paraded in their first
Premier League game of the season but it was
City's old guard who earned a priceless first
win for new manager Manuel Pellegrini.
David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and
Samir Nasri all scored as Manchester City
sailed past Newcastle United 4-0.
The victory saw City overhaul local rivals,
defending champions Manchester United, at
the top of the Premier League table after the
first round of matches.
The result also compounded a dismal start to
the new season for Newcastle -- who were
reduced to 10 men -- as the defeat saw them
rooted to the bottom of the table.
Manchester City have splashed the case in
the summer transfer window and there was
close to $100m worth of new talent on
display at the Etihad Stadium.
Pellgrini gave full debuts to Spanish winger
Jesus Navas and Brazilian Fernandinho in a
revamped midfield before bringing on
Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo in the
second half.
Negredo had a goal disallowed late on but
the core of the team created by former
manager Roberto Mancini had already given
the new Chilean boss value for money
against Newcastle.
Read: Pellegrini named as Mancini's
successor
"It's a very good start but I was very
confident that the team would play well,"
Pellegrini told the media after the match.
"We worked very hard during preseason,
we were trying another style of football and
we must continue to improve but for the
first match, it was good.
"The most pleasing aspect was the way the
team played for 90 minutes, from the
beginning the attitude was aggressive and
we continued to play that way for the
whole match."
City were unleashed at the whistle and Edin
Dzeko and Pablo Zabaleta --who signed a
new four year contract to stay at City
earlier on Monday -- both came close to
scoring.
With barely six minutes on the clock, Silva
headed in Dzeko's cross to see City's lively
start to the match rewarded.
Aguero found the bottom corner to send
City into the break 2-0 up and things got
worse for Newcastle when Steven Taylor
was show a red card for swiping the
Argentine striker with his arm.
Toure glided in a free kick to stretch City's
advantage and substitute Nasri pounced on
a loose ball to complete the rout.
The only downside for City was the exit of
captain Vincent Kompany with a suspected
groin injury.
The result underlined City's credentials as
championship contenders for their third
season in a row.
After the first round of Premier League
matches, the two Manchester clubs top the
standings ahead of Aston Villa and Chelsea.
There were also wins for would be title
challengers Liverpool and Tottenham while
Arsenal suffered the misery of a home
defeat to Villa.
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