City couldn’t handle their intensity: Pep

After suffering 1-2 defeat to Bournemouth, Sky Blues boss Guardiola says his boys were not able to match up to the Cherries

Manchester City suffered their first Premier League loss since December as Bournemouth stunned the champions, while Arsenal were rocked by Newcastle and Liverpool seized top spot on Saturday. City were unbeaten in their previous 32 league games, dating back to a defeat at Aston Villa last year. 

But Pep Guardiola’s second-placed side saw that streak come to an unexpected end in a 1-2 loss on England’s south coast. The Cherries had never beaten City in their 21 previous meetings, losing 19 of those matches, yet Andoni Iraola’s team sprang a huge upset to derail the champions’ push for a fifth successive title. 

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Pep Guardiola

Bournemouth recently damaged Arsenal’s title hopes with a 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium and they inflicted pain on City as well. Guardiola had claimed City faced an injury “emergency” after they suffered fitness problems in Wednesday’s League Cup defeat at Tottenham.  “We have a lot of players with no minutes so the balance is a bit uncomfortable. Today we could not handle their intensity. That’s why we lost the game,” Guardiola said.

Exhausted or not, City were rocked in the ninth minute when Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo drilled Milos Kerkez’s cross past Ederson from inside the area. 

Guardiola’s men were unable to muster a response to that blow and Evanilson doubled Bournemouth’s lead in the 64th minute with a composed finish from Kerkez’s cross. Josko Gvardiol’s header reduced the deficit in the 82nd minute, but it was too late to save City from a second defeat in four days.

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