It was a surprise to witness AFC Bournemouth boss Manchester City as they beat them 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
It is rare that Pep Guardiola’s men get outperformed by any team in the world, let alone any team in the Premier League.
However, Bournemouth’s fearless left them in good stead as Josko Gvardiol’s third league goal of the campaign was rendered futile due to strikes from Antoine Semenyo and Evanlison.
Manchester City huffed and puffed for much of the game and at one point in the second half, it seemed like the Cherries could further extend their two-goal lead.
Gvardiol’s goal injected life into this City side who pushed for a late equaliser.
On another day, Manchester City could well have rescued a point or even three.
Pep Guardiola says Man City “could not handle” Bournemouth’s intensity
However, after the referee blew the final whistle, Bournemouth were the deserved winners on the day.
A strange day of Premier League football well and truly took place as both City and Arsenal lost while Liverpool continued their fairytale start to life under Arne Slot.
In the aftermath of his side’s loss, Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City could not cope with Bournemouth’s intensity.
Guardiola said via HaytersTV: “We could not match up this intensity. All the situations, long ball, we could not win it and when you do not win these long balls to [Antoine] Semenyo or central defenders, strikers, after you have to defend deeper.”
“We struggled to make our build-up but especially for that, the rhythm that they put for many reasons, they were higher than us and we could not handle it.”
The Catalan’s assessment will likely be followed by nodding heads from City supporters as Andoni Iraola’s side carved them apart on plenty of occasions and pressed them excellently.
If not for Ederson Moraes’ heroics, the Premier League winners could have been well and truly demolished on the day.
Man City vs Bournemouth stats
However, Manchester City would be fairly satisfied after having missed key players like Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne to name a few and still being two points off the top of the league table.
The worry for Pep Guardiola is that City play a similarly difficult Brighton side next weekend.
If Manchester City play like they did against Bournemouth, they could drop more points. Here are the statistics from a pulsating evening of football.
| STATS | MAN CITY | BOURNEMOUTH |
| POSSESSION | 65% | 35% |
| EXPECTED GOALS | 1.80 | 1.77 |
| BIG CHANCES | 4 | 6 |
| GOALKEEPER SAVES | 4 | 2 |
| TACKLES | 14 | 16 |
The numbers suggest that City were far from their best.
Pep Guardiola’s claim about Bournemouth’s intensity being far too much for his side too handle was true as they could not physically compete with them on the day.
Such displays could be punished even more mercilessly by elite sides if City play to such an underwhelming standard in all departments.
