Pep Guardiola’s first Premier League game came against Sunderland. Manchester City needed an 87th-minute own goal from Paddy McNair to clinch victory. A reunion seven months later and on enemy territory was altogether more comfortable.
That is one sign of progress. Others abounded. There is an obvious focus on Sergio Aguero, who scored in both beatings of Sunderland, but City’s 2017 resurgence owes much to the ways others have added extra dimensions. It was significant that Leroy Sane scored the second goal — the summer signing has come of age in winter — and pertinent that Yaya Toure, the exile reinvented as a mainstay, turned in another hugely influential display.
Guardiola’s teams are built around the midfield and City have had both balance and incision since the reversion to 4-3-3. Even with Kevin de Bruyne benched for 77 minutes, they dominated possession at the Stadium of Light, making 716 passes to 288, bringing both control and a cutting edge as they kept a fifth consecutive away clean sheet and recorded a seventh win in eight games.

Source: The National