Gary O’Neil's Bournemouth struggled to cope with the bags of quality that Pep Guardiola's Manchester City possesses as they slipped to a 4-1 defeat at home.
Julian Alvarez started the scoring after being in the right place to put away the rebound from Erling Haaland’s effort. The latter then made it two after 30 minutes, tapping in at the back post, a goal which involved some good work from Ilkay Gundogan.
Things went from bad to worse when Phillip Billing’s poor pass was only met by Phil Foden who calmly put the ball past Neto to make it three. Then six minutes into the second half, the game looked over for the home side after Chris Mepham could only direct Alvarez’ shot into his own net.
A consolation goal did come for Bournemouth after a good run down the left from Jordan Zemura to find a good pass into Jefferson Lerma, who took his chance well to prevent their opponents from a clean sheet.
Here is how the players rated at the Vitality Stadium:
Bournemouth
Neto - 5/10
It is never a great performance when you concede four, but the Brazilian was mostly let down by the players in front of him, not really being at fault for any of the goals.
Adam Smith - 6/10
Not a bad performance from the right back, who saw little danger come down his side, keeping Jack Grealish very quiet.
Jack Stephens - 4/10
He was always slow to react to the ball as City fizzed it around his side, with his block leading to Alvarez shooting on goal to make it four.
Chris Mepham - 5/10
He made some good challenges throughout the match and probably one of the best performances out of the Bournemouth defence. Unfortunate to score the own goal, after getting in the way of Alvarez’s shot.
Marcos Sensei - 4/10
Much like his defensive partner Stephens, he struggled to cope with the intensity of Pep’s side and was slow in comparison.
Jordan Zemura - 5/10
He had some good moments going forward and even got an assist for Jefferson Lerma but found himself in poor defensive positions more often than not.
Jefferson Lerma - 6/10
A well-taken goal from the Columbian, whilst also putting in a good performance in midfield, winning the ball back for his side on multiple occasions.
Phillip Billing - 4/10
Not the best of showings from the Bournemouth midfielder, with his awful blind ball, played across his defence gifting Foden with a goal and putting the game out of sight.
Dango Ouattara - 5/10
He often tried to make things happen for his side but was not able to get the better of his opposing players too much.
Hamed Traore - 5/10
Looked dangerous when on the ball, showing quick feet but ultimately could not have a big impact on creating chances against this strong City side.
Dominic Solanke - 5/10
Put himself about up top and was a bit of a handful for the City defenders, but was not too much of a threat for them ultimately.
Ryan Fredericks (59’) – 5/10
Had some good moments in possession and helped steady the ship as City slowed down.
Joe Rothwell (59’) – 4/10
Not much to report but played okay coming on for Billing.
Jaidon Anthony – (76’)
Looked dangerous when coming on, almost scoring a great goal after cutting onto his right foot.
Man City
Ederson - 6/10
Other than Lerma’s goal, the Brazilian had a very quiet day in goal, with his side dominating possession.
Rico Lewis – 8/10
A brilliant performance from the young right back. Defensively superb, making many challenges to stop any counterattacks from the opposition. Whilst linking up well with his teammates in attacking positions.
Manuel Akanji - 8/10
A strong showing from the Swiss international, who looked calm on the ball and let little get past him by reading the game well.
Ruben Dias - 7/10
His presence at the back was enough for Dias, who was strong in the air in both boxes whilst being composed on the ball himself.
Nathan Ake - 7/10
A solid performance against his old club, who looked very comfortable in possession and almost scored with a powerful effort on goal.
Ilkay Gundogan - 8/10
Despite not being directly involved, the German was heavily involved in the first two goals with some great passes into Phil Foden. Apart from this, he was energetic and always making smart runs behind the defence.
Rodri - 6/10
A typical performance from the Spaniard, comfortably shielding his defence and playing simple and smart passes into the attacking players.
Phil Foden - 7/10
Bournemouth found it hard to deal with the Englishman. He was involved in the build-up for the first two goals before capitalising on the mistake from Billing to get his own goal.
Jack Grealish - 5/10
The ex-Villa man was not able to make a big impact on the game today, with most of his side's good play coming down the right but carried the ball forward well when asked upon.
Julian Alvarez - 8/10
A hardworking performance from the Argentine forward, who was full of energy all game. He was in the right place at the right time for his goal and had a big hand in Chris Mepham's own goal.
Erling Haaland - 7/10
A good performance from the league’s top scorer, who always looked frightening when City was on the attack, being in the right place to score his side's second goal whilst having a hand in Alvarez’s effort.
Kyle Walker (80’) – N/A
Sergio Gomez (55’) – 7/10
Looked at home in midfield, linking up well with his teammates whilst progressing the ball up the pitch nicely.
Kalvin Phillips (55’) – 4/10
Struggled to get into the game and looked a bit slow on the ball.
Maximo Perrone (72’) – 6/10
Looked composed on the ball in the little time he played.
Riyad Mahrez (72’) – 4/10
Did not have too much impact on the game.