Guardiola Makes History as Man City Edge Brentford 1-0: Player Ratings from Milestone Victory
Manchester City concluded the weekend in fifth place on the Premier League standings after securing a 1–0 victory against Brentford on Sunday, representing Pep Guardiola's 250th triumph in England's premier division since his 2016 arrival.
Erling Haaland's opening strike determined the outcome. Prior to this match, the Gtech Community Stadium remained one of just two Premier League venues where Haaland had featured without finding the net—with Anfield being the other.
Joško Gvardiol's forward pass caused the Brentford central defenders to turn toward their own goal, allowing Haaland to latch on and power through using his strength, speed and skillful footwork. The left-footed strike was as precise as expected from a player who had netted 11 times in eight appearances this season before kickoff.
Brentford, despite having established a two-goal advantage within 20 minutes against Manchester United the previous week, struggled to trouble City, who had to cope with losing Rodri to an early injury—the 2024 Ballon d'Or recipient displayed a concerned expression suggesting another disappointing injury blow.
Phil Foden and Oscar Bobb linked up effectively in spaces along City's right side, with the former surely frustrated after pulling a shot wide from a promising position thirty minutes into the match. The away team was subsequently denied what appeared to be a guaranteed second goal shortly after, as Caoimhín Kelleher's sharp reflex stop prevented Tijjani Reijnders at the back post.
Brentford started the second period with an energy that had been absent, requiring an alert one-versus-one save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to deny Igor Thiago from securing a rapid equalizer.
However, that revival and period of pressure failed to produce anything beyond several attempts that were either blocked or off target.
City's attacking threat virtually vanished from their commanding first-half display, yet there was seldom any genuine danger for Pep Guardiola's team, despite the narrow margin. Donnarumma's pulse quickened at the final whistle when Kevin Schade blocked an attempted clearance, but the deflected ball posed no threat to the goal.
Man City player ratings below.
Man City Player Ratings vs. Brentford
*Ratings provided by FotMob*
Player | Rating (Out of 10) |
|---|---|
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma | 8.1 |
RB: Matheus Nunes | 7.8 |
CB: Rúben Dias (c) | 8.0 |
CB: Joško Gvardiol | 8.1 |
LB: Nico O'Reilly | 7.9 |
DM: Rodri | 6.8 |
RM: Oscar Bobb | 7.8 |
CM: Tijjani Reijnders | 7.6 |
CM: Phil Foden | 7.6 |
LM: Savinho | 6.7 |
ST: Erling Haaland | 7.8 |
SUB: Nico González (22' for Rodri) | 7.3 |
SUB: Jérémy Doku (76' for Bobb) | 5.8 |
SUB: Bernardo Silva (76' for Reijnders) | 6.5 |
Subs not used: James Trafford (GK), John Stones, Nathan Aké, Rico Lewis, Mateo Kovačić, Rayan Cherki.
Player of the Match: Joško Gvardiol
Brentford (5-3-2): Caoimhín Kelleher; Michael Kayode, Kristoffer Ajer, Sepp van den Berg, Nathan Collins (c), Aaron Hickey; Yehor Yarmolyuk, Jordan Henderson, Mikel Damsgaard; Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade.
Subs: Fábio Carvalho, Frank Onyeka, Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt, Dango Ouattara.