David Silva was again the star of a second successive victory as City claimed top spot in the fledgling Premier League table. There were plenty of other top-class performances in another impressive team showing.
Roberto Mancini has instilled a solidity and purposefulness throughout the side where every player contributes and appears fully aware of their role. The manager seems to finally have the side playing exactly how he wants, even if he wasn’t happy at the narrowness of the victory.
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Hart – Little chance with the goals. Claimed the ball well at set pieces and showed better early distribution than last season. 7
Richards – Both himself and Petrov looked to enjoy their duel. Unlucky to be adjudged to have fouled the Bulgarian prior to crossing for Aguero to score. 7
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City secured third place thanks to goals from Joleon Lescott and Edin Dzeko in a game which saw Joe Hart keep another clean sheet despite a casual first half performance. Bolton failed to take their chances early on and City grew in stature during the second period.
At the outset there were some unexpected changes in the full-back positions. Kolarov wasn’t there and Zabaleta was initially set to start on the bench with Boyata as left-back.
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Hart – Dropped the ball in one momentary lapse, but made a couple of excellent saves to earn another clean sheet. 6
Boyata – A surprise starter and looked initially nervous. Put over an excellent cross from which Barry ought to have scored, but this shouldn’t disguise the fact he needs to play more games at centre-back. 6
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