EPL: Mahrez goals seamless part of the Manchester City jigsaw

Pic courtesy: Reuters

Pep Guardiola saluted his "incredible players" as Manchester City recovered from their midweek European blip in the Premier League on Saturday and Riyad Mahrez`s first goals for the club spelled particularly forbidding news for the champions` rivals.

City roared to a 5-0 win at Cardiff City with a goal on his 300th appearance for Sergio Aguero, one of the best performances of the season from Ilkay Gundogan and another outstanding display by Bernardo Silva. Yet perhaps most significant for the champions were the long-awaited maiden goals for their record signing Mahrez, who finally reaped the rewards for his impressive performances with a fine second-half double from off the bench.

"It`s important for him, I`m pretty sure," Guardiola, who replaced Aguero with Mahrez in the last half an hour, told the BBC. "But Riyad is an incredibly talented player. I`m so satisfied with his behaviour, the way he`s played and trained. We don`t have any doubt about his quality."

There had been nothing majorly lacking in the 60 million-pound ($78.5 million) man`s performances for City in his previous seven appearances this season except for a confidence-boosting goal. This was his first double since striking twice for Leicester City against Everton in December 2015 but such is City`s quality that Guardiola has no guarantees for any individual.

Off the mark with two dynamite goals, @Mahrez22 was on fire! #cardiffvcity pic.twitter.com/3Fc8ENZyZq — Manchester City (@ManCity) September 22, 2018

"He (Mahrez) knows he has to fight because he`s in such a talented squad but I`m so calm when I can put in players like (Phil) Foden," said Guardiola, who has not yet played Mahrez for the entire 90 minutes in any match. "They are incredible players because they`ve shown me that in the last 13, 14 months, every single day they are there."

It was a particularly stunning performance from City after the poor Champions League loss to Olympique Lyonnais at the Etihad on Wednesday.

Yet, typically, it was Aguero, on another landmark day for the 30-year-old, who reassured City by making the breakthrough after Cardiff, still winless in the league on their return to the top flight, had held the champions for half an hour.

Great victory with the team playing brilliantly. Happy to have scored on my 300th game for @ManCity and that it helped us get a win. I'd like to dedicate the goal to a fantastic person: Profe Loren. C'mon, City! pic.twitter.com/GSX067vQtd — Sergio Kun Aguero (@aguerosergiokun) September 22, 2018

"Of course, it was great that he signed so he could stay longer for us," said Guardiola, happy that the Argentine has just signed a contract extension that will keep him at City until at least 2021.