Guardiola pays tribute to ‘unique’ Aguero and ‘fighter’ Silva

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Pep Guardiola says David Silva and Sergio Aguero are unique talents after the Manchester City pair celebrated major milestones in Sunday’s win at Bournemouth.

City captain Silva made his 400th appearance for the Premier League champions in the 3-1 south-coast success, while club-record scorer Aguero claimed his 400th career goal.

Former Spain midfielder Silva marked his occasion by providing two assists, the second of which led to Aguero’s landmark strike, the Argentinian’s second goal of the afternoon.

The victory returned City to winning ways after last weekend’s frustrating 2-2 draw with Tottenham, prompting manager Guardiola to pay tribute to two of his leading performers.

‘What can I say, everybody knows him,’ Guardiola said of 33-year-old Silva to the club website. ‘He has a sense, to move between the lines like nobody else in the world – he is a fighter.

‘And Sergio, you know his sense of goals in the box is unique in the world.’

Kyle Walker was perhaps fortunate to remain on the field following two poor challenges on Nathan Ake which yielded a single yellow card, before Aguero slotted the visitors ahead following Kevin De Bruyne’s scuffed effort.

In-form Raheem Sterling doubled the advantage with his fifth top-flight goal of the campaign and, despite Cherries substitute Harry Wilson halving the deficit with a superb free kick, Aguero’s 400th strike for club and country sealed the three points.

It was also a memorable day for midfielder De Bruyne, who, in inadvertent fashion, set a new record as the player to reach 50 Premier League assists in the fewest number of games.

The Belgian required just 123 outings to achieve the feat, 18 fewer than Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil.

Aguero, who has scored 235 of his 400 career goals for City, was full of praise for creative teammates De Bruyne and Silva.

‘Congratulations to Kevin. We know Kevin. He is an amazing player,’ said the 31-year-old. ‘He and David, their assists are so good. We are happy because they play for us.’

Meanwhile, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe has backed Charlie Daniels to return from his latest knee injury.

Wing back Daniels, who was only just back from a long-term knee problem, left the Vitality Stadium pitch on a stretcher in the first half.

‘It’s such a tough one for him, it’s such a tough one for us,’ said Howe. ‘It’s a real blow for the club really because he’s such a popular member of the squad, such a valued player. And he’s worked so hard to get back fit, he’s done everything right.

‘To suddenly break like that is desperately disappointing. He’s got the strength of character to do it [come back], he’ll need picking up, for sure, and he’ll need a lot of support initially but he’ll get that from us.’

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