West Brom 0 Manchester City 4 - Report and pictures

Analysis

This match was billed as two worlds colliding, a proper British test for Pep Guardiola in his first Premier League season.

Could the tiki-taka genius do it against the mettle of Tony Pulis? Could caviar break down concrete? Turns out it can, and despite a spirited second-half from Albion, in the end, it was comfortable.

Two clinical Sergio Aguero goals in the space of nine first-half minutes put the visitors in charge before the brilliant Ilkay Gundogan wrapped things up with two of his own in the last 11 minutes.

City's 10th straight win over the Baggies ended their six-match winless streak - Guardiola's longest in his managerial career.

Tactically, Pulis got it wrong to start with. City have proved vulnerable in recent weeks to a high-intensity, high-pressing game. Celtic and Southampton found weaknesses at the back, and yet Albion ignored that blueprint in the first half.

Instead of hunting in packs, there was no pressure put on City's defence, who were encouraged to have the ball. Salomon Rondon cut his usual isolated figure up front.

After half-time though, the landscape changed. Reinvigorated by an attacking double substitution that brought 17-year-old Jonathan Leko and James Morrison on for Jonas Olsson and Darren Fletcher, Albion finally started to press.

While Chris Brunt - who was excellent on his first start since February - sprayed balls from the base of midfield, Morrison, Nacer Chadli, James McClean and Leko pushed forward.

The match opened up and Albion started to pass the ball around. They didn't score, but at least they tried to.

In the end though, they were outclassed by a brilliant team, with brilliant players.

The first goal was beautiful in its simplicity. A one-two between Gundogan and Raheem Sterling down the line took two Baggies players out of the game and then Aguero nutmegged Ben Foster with the finish.

The second was an unstoppable rocket into the top corner, but three Albion men were static when Aguero picked up the ball on the edge of area after Fletcher's miscontrol. It could have been avoided.

The third was brought about by another piece of Aguero magic, whose reverse chip into Gundogan gave him an easy finish. And the fourth was a simple pass from Kevin De Bruyne into Gundogan, who gobbled up another.

More worrying than the result were the swathes of empty blue seats that had returned to The Hawthorns.

Especially considering the game was the first chance for many to see a team managed by Guardiola - one of the most exciting and innovative coaches in world football - in the flesh.

This week, Pulis was given a new one-year extension to his contract, but his long-term future at the club is by no means cast-iron guaranteed.

Today, he was handed his heaviest defeat as Albion boss since he joined the club at the start of 2015.

Key moments

09 Nolito has the ball in the net but it's correctly disallowed because Sergio Aguero, who squared him the ball, was offside

16 Nolito booked for pushing his head ever so slightly into Dawson after Albion's right-back fouls him

18 Huge chance for John Stones when the ball falls to him at five yards out at the back post, but he shoots into the side netting

19 GOAL CITY ­- Clinical Sergio Aguero finish after Ilkay Gundogan slips him through

26 Gareth McAuley blocks Nolito's chip over Foster on the line after Aguero steals the ball from Fletcher in midfield

28 GOAL CITY - Aguero gets his second with a right-footed rocket into the top corner after picking up a free ball on the edge of the box with Albion static

72 Jonny Evans sends James McClean free down the left wing, and his cross finds Salomon Rondon, who can't divert the ball on target

79 GOAL CITY - Gundogan wraps the game up with a neat finish after Aguero chips the ball through to him with McClean playing him onside

84 Jonathan Leko bursts to the byline and pulls it back to McAuley, who hits the post

89 GOAL CITY - Kevin De Bruyne squares the ball to Gundogan, who tucks in his second goal of the game

Man of the Match

Sergio Aguero - Two clinical first-half goals that won the game for City

Position in the table

15th - 10 points from 10 games

Teams

Albion (4-1-4-1): Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Olsson (Leko 51), Nyom; Evans; Chadli (Robson-Kanu 87), Brunt, Fletcher (c) (Morrison 51), McClean; Rondon. Unused subs: Myhill, Galloway, Gardner, Phillips, Robson-Kanu.

Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Bravo; Fernando, Otamendi, Stones, Kolarov; Fernandinho; Nolito (De Bruyne 68), Silva (Garcia 83), Gundogan, Sterling (Navas 77); Aguero. Unused subs: Caballero, Kompany, Clichy, Iheanacho.

Attendance: 22,270

Referee: Lee Mason (Bolton)

Goals: Aguero (19, 28), Gundogan (79, 90)