Pep Guardiola again rules out late Manchester City title charge

City attempted 716 passes, which is more than in any other Premier League game under Pep Guardiola, with only 75 of them failing to find their intended target.

Tom’s rating: 7/10 – The Lads really did give it a good go in the first half, but their lack of athleticism and quality meant that City never really struggled after taking the lead.

The defeat means Sunderland have won just one of their last 10 league games, however David Moyes again refused to accept his team, now six points adrift of safety at the foot of the table, are down.

Willy Caballero has now kept five clean sheets in his last seven matches and City suddenly have a much tighter backline. “It’s a pity that the distance between Chelsea is so big”. Banished from the team, owing to a stand-off between the club and his avaricious agent Dimitri Seluk, Toure was far from the action when the season started, even missing the cut for the initial Champions League squad.

That will not prove easy, the Argentinian forward once more proving pivotal, scoring his 115th Premier League goal for the club and ensuring a fourth straight league victory. “I thought their commitment and game plan to try to stop City playing was good, but it’s pretty hard because they’re a very good team”.

Guardiola refused to be drawn on whether they can eat into the eight-point deficit they must make up on leaders Chelsea, an advantage Antonio Conte’s side can further stretch when the travel to West Ham tonight.

Guardiola believes there is still plenty to come from Sane.

City’s top scorer was denied a late second goal by keeper Jordan Pickford after Leroy Sane put the result beyond doubt by doubling his side’s advantage just before the hour when the German midfielder rounded-off a counter-attack to score for the third consecutive game. “We’ve got a good chance of staying up”.

City host ninth-placed Stoke City on Wednesday before travelling to Middlesbrough for an FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

MAN CITY: Caballero, Sagna, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy, Toure (De Bruyne, 78 mins), Sterling, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero.