Manchester City made a stunning comeback from one goal down to beat Bournemouth 2-1 to open up their Premier League campaign following a poor defeat against Arsenal.
Enzo Maresca and his City side were stunned by what their opponent threw at them from the beginning to the final whistle which wasn’t an easy one to contain.
The encounter commenced as the second competitive game for the new manager who lost the Community Shield against Arsenal. It was expected that the City side would look much better than their previous game.
Bournemouth knew the task at hand, and they were prepared for it by ensuring they matched everything that the home side had coming. The game was balanced with both teams who looked sharp and created early chances.
The first 20 minutes was cagey with both teams holding each other to a stalemate despite coming close at some point in the encounter. No goal was scored between the two teams who stayed sharp with their control.
A moment of magic appeared in the match during the 26th minute which saw Evanilson delivered a wonderful assist for Tavernier who scored a beautiful goal that made things 1-0 for Bournemouth.
Manchester City once again saw themselves going down just like the match against Arsenal which they did everything possible to make a comeback, but instead they conceded more goals.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to talk about as both teams headed for the 45 minutes break with the scoreline staying 0-1 in favor of the Cherries who had better use of their opportunities.
Enzo Maresca had much work to do after coming in for the second half which he needed to make sure his team were able to bounce back and also avoid what happened against Arsenal.
While City dominated the ball possession, they couldn’t make anything happen for themselves as it was hard-rock difficult for them to breakdown their opponent.
Matheus Nunes replaced Rico Lewis in the 57th minute as a tactical change to ensure the team press more going forward. Elliot Anderson was later removed from the game after suffering an injury.
Antoine Semenyo had a moment in the 67th minute, but the goalkeeper stood his ground by pulling off and amazing save which kept the scoreline the same as play carried on.
It was all the home team dominating the game with Erling Haaland coming close, but once again, it was the goalkeeper who stood tall ensuring he made another brilliant save.
The game was slowing approaching the final 10 minutes with still nothing good coming from the home team despite seeing more possession and opportunities on goal.
Marc Guehi scored in the 85th minute of the match after receiving a well delivered assist from Rayan Cherki which ensure the encounter became level 1-1 between both teams.
After the leveler, the home side applied more pressure with hopes of scoring another one with just five minutes plus additional team left to be played between them.
The Cherries were also bent on getting something themselves, but they traded with all caution knowing they have Erling Haaland also applying pressure to see if they would crack open.
Both teams threw in their final push after the match official signalled for an additional three minutes which they needed to score the lead or both settle for one point each.
With the last minute of play, Josko Gvardiol scored with his right foot with assist from Rayan Cherki to make things 2-1. There was nothing left to play with just the little time the referee allowed for play to carry on.
Manchester City ended up claiming a 2-1 victory against Bournemouth after coming from behind with just 10 minutes left for the encounter to come to an end.
Enzo Maresca commence the Premier League season with an important victory after seeing his side struggle all through to make anything reasonable happen against their opponent.
Bournemouth would have themselves to blame after holding on until the final 10 minutes which saw them collapse and conceded two goals before the match ended.
Manchester City secured the important victory with a 2-1 result which will give them a moral boost after what happened against Arsenal during the Community Shield match.