By Victor Okoye
A superb strike by midfielder Julian Alvarez gave Manchester City a 1-0 win over Newcastle United in their first home game of the new Premier League season.
The win capped off an evening of celebration of last season’s treble at the Etihad Stadium.
The English Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup trophies were all displayed on the pitch before kickoff.
This was as hosts Manchester City comprehensively outplayed Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, whose own title aspirations were dealt an early season setback.
Pep Guardiola picked Phil Foden to take the place of the injured Kevin De Bruyne.
The 23-year-old England international responded with a man-of-the-match performance as he shouldered the burden of creating chances for the champions.
After an opening half-hour in which the home side dominated possession, Alvarez broke the deadlock in the 31st minute.
This was when Foden picked him out on the edge of the box, and the Argentine whipped a powerful shot across Nick Pope and into the net.
Newcastle upped the tempo in the second half but it was Manchester City who had the better chances.
Although striker Erling Haaland seemed out of sorts as he failed to score despite a number of opportunities created for him by Foden.
The visitors finally managed to start exerting some pressure in the last 15 minutes, but despite some better attacking play they still struggled to create shots on goal.
Substitute Callum Wilson wasted a glorious counter-attack when he picked Rodri’s pocket in midfield but he could not fashion an angle for a run on goal.
When the shot eventually came for Harvey Barnes, it did little to trouble Ederson.
Manchester City almost grabbed a second.
This was when Foden flashed a late shot across goal as his side held on for back-to
-back league wins to start their season and stretch their record to 17 home victories in all competitions.
“I enjoy playing in there, hopefully in the future I can pick up more games there and show people what I can do.
“The manager spoke to me a few times, he said to remain patient, ‘You always train very good and work hard and you’ll get your opportunities in the future.’
“Now I’m living up to them, I’m more than happy,” Foden said of his playmaker role.
Newcastle coach Eddie Howe had few complaints after seeing his side outplayed over the 90 minutes.
“It was a tough game as we knew it would be. They’re an elite team.
“We tried our best to execute our plan, we did better in the second half, but when the moments came we weren’t clinical enough,” he said. (Reuters/NAN)
