Premier League winners and losers: Arsenal provide more schadenfreude
By Ty Finch
Winner: The number 7
AKA: I’m running out of ways to say that Manchester City are incredible.
Stoke aren’t a bad team. They’re consistently mid-table and can often take down the big teams on their day. This was not one of those days. City ran rampant through their shaky defense, but, in fairness, there’s no team that can make an opposing defense look as shaky as City can. When they are on top of their game, it’s hard to see how anyone can stop them.
The best two players in the world currently reside in Spain. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are undoubtedly the top of any list worth reading. But Kevin De Bruyne is making his case to be right underneath them. He was absolutely dominant on the day. De Bruyne constantly pounded Stoke’s wafer thin defense, shredding them with his through balls and runs time after time. I can’t even play some of his passes that he made in FIFA. His assists for Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane were sumptuous, and he set up a few more with other brilliant passes. City’s attack ran through De Bruyne all day.
City ended up with seven goals, the second time they’ve managed to score that many in a single game in the Premier League. Raheem Sterling, who wears number seven, scored once and assisted on two others. City had SEVENTY NINE percent possession, a number that barely registers as a real thing. I’ve managed to go this long without mentioning Fernandinho’s laser-guided missile, which kissed off the underside of the crossbar for City’s fifth goal, which would be criminal if the other six goals weren’t so beautiful in their own way. It’s hard to see anyone stopping Pep Guardiola’s squad at the moment.