Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 6y

Pep Guardiola: Manchester City's 7-2 win might be our best yet

MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola said Manchester City's 7-2 win over Stoke City might be the best performance since he took charge of the club.

City moved two points clear at the top of the table with another outstanding victory as they took their goal tally to 17 goals from their opening three Premier League games at the Etihad.

"Always you can do it better but today I cannot deny maybe was the best performance since I arrived here," Guardiola told a news conference.

"Except two actions -- and we have to learn about that -- we made a real good performance from everybody. After the international break it is always complicated but we did it really well. We played good because we played simple.

"I'm very pleased, a big congratulations because we won and especially the way we won."

City had six separate goal scorers but Kevin De Bruyne was again the chief creator, claiming two assists and playing a big hand in the two opening goals before being rested for the final 24 minutes.

But it was Stoke City manager Mark Hughes who led the praise for the Belgium international and said his will not be the only team to be taken apart by Guardiola's side.

"They've got genuine world-class players in their ranks -- Kevin De Bruyne is head and shoulders above any player in the Premier League in my view given the level of performance and how he can dictate and affect the game," former City boss Hughes said.

"At 3-2 we got ourselves into a position to possibly get something out of the game but we're an honest group and it probably flattered us.

"Players like De Bruyne see those situations and grab the initiative and say this isn't acceptable and take the game away from you with the quality of their play.

"Some of their goals were outstanding. We're not the first to come here and get turned over and clearly we won't be the last because City are an outstanding team."

Gabriel Jesus, who scored twice, also hailed the importance of De Bruyne and said it is a pleasure to play in the City side at the moment.

"I'm really happy and pleased to be playing with high-level players like him. We all feel lucky to have him in our team," the Brazil international said.

"We have been working hard and play every game to win and score lots of goals. We're really happy with how we are playing.

"We are very happy with our home performance, but it's the whole performance of the team.

"We are playing well this season and I think the fans are enjoying it -- I think that is more important than scoring lots of goals."

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