Kevin De Bruyne produced a stunning assist for Phil Foden to score Manchester City’s only goal in their 1-0 win at Brentford on Wednesday night.
It was far from a vintage performance from Pep Guardiola’s side, but they still claimed all three points and now sit eight clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester City player performed during the match against the Bees.
Manchester City player ratings
Ederson (GK) – 6/10 – Produced a good early stop to keep the game goalless and was subsequently largely untroubled.
Joao Cancelo (RB) – 7/10 – Breezed upfield in typical fashion, finding and using the ball so effectively in dangerous areas. Was also brilliant on the back foot, making five ball recoveries.
Ruben Dias (CB) – 6/10 – Looked bizarrely shaky in the first half, seemingly uncomfortable against Brentford’s energetic press and very nearly scoring an own goal, but regained his composure after the interval.
Aymeric Laporte (CB) – 6/10 – Played out of defence nicely, not misplacing a pass throughout, and was unlucky to be called just offside as he headed home late on.
Nathan Ake (LB) – 6/10 – Made a couple of good recovery tackles and proved very strong aerially.
Fernandinho (DM) – 7/10 – Distributed the ball brilliantly and showed his experience with some efficient screening of his back four.
Bernardo Silva (CM) – 6/10 – Floated around so elusively and was pivotal in a lot of his side’s build-up play, although failed to produce anything penetrating.
Kevin De Bruyne (CM) – 8/10 – Showed great energy in all facets of his game, knitted moves together really well and was the provenance of most things positive for the visitors. Put in a stunning ball to assist his side’s opener and was creator-in-chief throughout.
Gabriel Jesus (RW) – 5/10 – Popped up all over the shop but mostly failed to pierce through a resolute Brentford back line.
Jack Grealish (CF) – 4/10 – Good movement but was hardly involved in the action at all.
Phil Foden (LW) – 7/10 – Produced a clinical finish to open the scoring and was a general menace throughout, linking with colleagues sharply.
Substitutes not used: Steffen, Carson, Sterling, Gundogan, Zinchenko, Mahrez, Mbete, Palmer
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