Late goals from Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol sealed a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory for Manchester City against AFC Bournemouth in Enzo Maresca’s first Premier League game in charge.
Having overseen a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield last week, it looked like Maresca might also lose his first league game after succeeding Pep Guardiola, as Marcus Tavernier gave Bournemouth a 26th-minute lead at the Etihad Stadium.
However, Guehi, who started in an unfamiliar midfield role and headed wide of an open goal early in the second half, dragged City level in the 84th minute.
And in the first minute of stoppage time, Gvardiol took substitute Rayan Cherki’s pass and slotted into the bottom-left corner, with the goal being overturned following a VAR review for offside.
How the match unfolded
City started brightly, with Rico Lewis forcing a near-post save from Djordje Petrovic following a lovely flick into his path from Phil Foden, while Erling Haaland got his connection wrong from Nico O’Reilly’s cross.
But Bournemouth carried a threat on the counter, with City failing to heed a warning shot when Gianluigi Donnarumma’s palms were stung by Rayan. The Cherries’ next foray forward put them in front, with Tavernier sweeping home from Evanilson’s centre.
City looked shell-shocked by falling behind and did not threaten again until Petrovic touched a Haaland header around his post in the 39th minute. At the other end, Tavernier and Justin Kluivert passed up chances to double Bournemouth’s advantage before half-time.
Guehi missed a huge chance to equalise when he had the entire goal to aim at from a free header in the 51st minute, before former Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo forced Petrovic into a strong save down to his left.
Two more chances came and went for Haaland, before City finally drew level from a set-piece delivered by one of their attacking substitutes.
Guehi was again left unmarked from Cherki’s floated corner, and on this occasion, he made no mistake with a header that was deflected past Petrovic.
And there would be one more key involvement for Cherki, whose defence-splitting pass allowed Gvardiol to beat the offside trap and finish neatly.
While City’s late turnaround puts them seventh in the table, Bournemouth are 13th after their first league defeat in 19 matches, a run that had stretched back to January.
