De Bruyne and Sterling shine as Manchester City complete rout of Bournemouth

Raheem Serling celebrates scoring a hat-trick against Bournemouth

KEVIN DE BRUYNE believes his growing on-field relationship with Raheem Sterling can provide the sticking plaster Manuel Pellegrini needs as he faces a crucial week in the Champions League and Premier League.

City will face Sevilla at the Etihad on Wednesday and title rivals Manchester United in the league next Sunday without their influential but injured duo David Silva and Sergio Aguero.
Yet with De Bruyne looking worth every pound of his club- record £55million fee, as his skills worked the strings, and Sterling hitting his scoring straps with a hat-trick from a more central striking spot, the signs are positive.
“David and Sergio are great players on the attacking front for us but there are other really good players here too,” said De Bruyne after City’s rout of Bournemouth.
“Raheem likes to run deep and that makes it easier to find him so I’ll try to play that ball – a player with the pace he has is always an advantage.

Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne both completed moves to City this summer

“Maybe we don’t have the experience like the others but we play really well together and the more games we get, the better we will do.
“If you want to win titles you need to get on and do it with the players you have rather than worrying about the ones who are not fit, so we have to try and win the games without them.”
Allied with a decent hold-up performance from Wilfried Bony, who added the first and second goals of his campaign, City were too much for Eddie Howe’s men.
City’s injury situation is not ideal with Silva (ankle) out for a fortnight and Aguero (hamstring) a month. But Pellegrini said: “If they are not fit the players who get the chance must show why they are in the squad.
“We will continue waiting for Sergio and David but I was very happy with the performance of Bony, Raheem and Kevin.”

The last named has made such an assured start to his City career, it is hard to fathom whom Jose Mourinho was watching before he decided to dispatch him to Wolfsburg after just three appearances for Chelsea in six months in late 2013.
Despite a City career just eight games old, he is already proving something which seemed impossible in the summer when he moved back to the Premier League, namely that a fee that large could ever be value.
“It’s very different to two or three years ago,” said the Belgium midfielder.
“Now I’m playing at a higher level and I will only improve over time.
“I’m very happy with the way things are going and I just want to try to keep it up.”

MAN CITY (4-4-2): Hart 5; Zabaleta 6, Otamendi 5, Mangala 7, Sagna 6; Navas 6, Toure 6 (Fernando 46, 5), Fernandinho 6, De Bruyne 8 (Nasri 62, 4); Bony 6, Sterling 8 (Iheanacho 78, 6). Booked: Sagna, Otamendi. Goals: Sterling 7, 29, 45, Bony 11, 89. NEXT UP: Sevilla (h), Wed CL.
BOURNEMOUTH (4-5-1): Federici 5; Francis 5, Cook 4, Distin 5, Daniels 5; Smith 6 (Pugh 78), O’Kane 4 (MacDonald 65, 5), Surman 5, Gosling 5, Ritchie 6; Murray 6 (King 74, 5). Booked: Ritchie. Goal: Murray: 22. NEXT UP: Tottenham (h), Sun PL.
Referee: M Dean (Cheshire).