Manchester City stay fourth with convincing victory over Bournemouth

Kevin De Bruyne starred as Manchester City cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory over Bournemouth to remain in fourth place in the Premier League table.

De Bruyne, who returned from injury after two months out with a knee injury, showed what City had been sorely missing with an inspired 57 minutes on the pitch, linked up brilliantly with David Silva and Sergio Aguero in an opening 20 minutes that saw City blow away their south-coast hosts.

Fernando opened the scoring with a volleyed finish past Artur Boruc, and De Bruyne made it 2-0 shortly afterwards as he finished off one of the moves of the season – unsurprisingly involving Silva and Aguero in the build-up.

A towering Aguero header – his 18th goal of the season – made it 3-0 from a clipped Jesus Navas cross just seven minutes later, and the only positive for Bournemouth going in at the break was that it was just a three-goal deficit – such was the quality of City’s performance.

Bournemouth improved markedly after the break, with City also easing up a touch, but substitute Aleksandar Kolarov scored a stunner in the third minute of stoppage time to cap off a comprehensive victory.

The victory ensured Manuel Pellegrini’s men secured fourth spot for another week, and it's Paris Saint-Germain next up for Pellegrini's side – and on this evidence they will give it a real go against the French Champions.

Bournemouth weren't able to live with City during the breathtaking opening 20 minutes, but the Cherries are all-but safe and have six games remaining to pick up the two points they need to reach 40 points.

Silva, Aguero and De Bruyne are all superb players, we know that, but the way they linked up in the first half at the Vitality Stadium was up there with anything that Pep Guardiola’s attacking units have produced at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The worry for Pep will be the defence, but add a midfielder to sit in behind that trio and dictate the possession and it’s all set up for Guardiola to hit the ground running at the Etihad. Is that good news for Yaya Toure? Well, no. But then it was pretty straightforward to work out that he’d be one of those to be shelved by the new manager.

Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) – He only played for 57 minutes, but the impact of De Bruyne on City was impossible to ignore. He ran the game in the first half, drifting into pockets of space, linking up well with Silva and Aguero, and worrying the Bournemouth defence with his pace in behind. If Pep Guardiola was concerned about a lack of world-class talent in the City squad, then he’ll certainly have the Belgian’s name inked in on the strength of this performance alone.

Bournemouth: Boruc 4; Francis 5, Smith 5, Cook 5, Daniels 5; Ritchie 5, O'Kane 6, Surman 6, Gradel 6; Grabban 6, King 5. Subs: Pugh 6, Elphick 5, Gosling 5.

Man City: Caballero 8; Zabaleta 6, Otamendi 7, Mangala 7, Clichy 6; Navas 7, Fernando 7, Fernandinho 8, Silva 8; De Bruyne 9, Aguero 8. Subs: Kolarov 7, Nasri 6, Iheanacho 5.

7’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Man City: Fernando opens the scoring for Man City, volleying home a loose ball from a corner. Bournemouth keeper Boruc was slow to react as the shot looped past him, but City won't mind having the stopper to thank. 1-0.

12’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 0-2 Man City: De Bruyne finishes off a beautiful flowing move to make it 2-0 to City. Silva nicked possession on the edge of the box, before combining perfectly with Aguero and volleying an assist to De Bruyne. The finish was top-class too. What a lovely goal.

19’– GOAL! Bournemouth 0-3 Man City: Sergio Aguero makes it 3-0 to City, rising high at the back post to head home Navas' chipped cross. Again it was De Bruyne who was pulling the strings in the build-up. This game looks to be done and dusted and we've not even played 20 minutes yet.

24’ – BAR – Fernandinho unleashes a thunderbolt that dips over the head of Boruc and crashes back off the crossbar.

29’ – SAVE – Caballero dives full-stretch to protect City's 3-0 lead. The loose ball is run clear by Aguero and City build another attack, but it's encouraging for Bournemouth that they've been able to stop the one-way traffic.

55’ – SUB – De Bruyne's return from injury has been spectacular, but Pellegrini takes advantage of the score-line to give his returning star some protection. On comes Kolarov to replace him.

89’ – SAVE – A bouncing ball is flicked towards the bottom corner by Grabban, but Caballero makes a superb save to protect the clean-sheet. That looked like it was offside in any case, but Willy wasn't to know.

90’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 0-4 Man City: Aleksandar Kolarov produces a superb individual goal to put the cherry on top of City's win, bursting into the box through a crowd of defenders before burying a powerful strike into the far corner from a difficult angle. 4-0.

City are unbeaten in 17 matches against the clubs in the bottom half of the table this season.

No Premier League player has scored more goals in 2016 than Sergio Aguero (ten).

Aguero has now scored against every team currently in the Premier League, the first player to ever do so.

City went into this game having failed to score in three of their last four and finding the net just six times in their last ten away games.

Bournemouth have never scored a home goal against City in four attempts.

City are unbeaten against Bournemouth in eight total league meetings (W6, D2).

Kevin De Bruyne has been directly involved in 15 goals in 20 Premier League games for Man City this season.