Late Guehi and Gvardiol strikes earn Maresca's Man City win over Bournemouth

[p]Hoping to recover from a sobering 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]City[/a] made a purposeful start here, coming close early on as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/foden-phil/E7XjDJns/"]Phil Foden[/a]’s neat flick found [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lewis-rico/vBVyfcAH/"]Rico Lewis[/a], who was thwarted at close range by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/petrovic-dorde/2F8I5Zyo/"]Djorde Petrovic[/a].[/p][p]And City were knocking at the door again when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/o-reilly-nico/xOrYaNWc/"]Nico O'Reilly[/a]’s lung-busting run ended with a ball across goal that couldn’t be turned goalwards by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/haaland-erling/UmV9iQmE/"]Erling Haaland[/a].[/p][embed guid="7eabdf94-f480-4406-890f-1f2d73c7b838" url="https://x.com/Flashscorecom/status/2091507802933956824" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]At the other end, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rayan/CSiH3dM4/"]Rayan[/a] forced a save from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/donnarumma-gianluigi/WScbdXmL/"]Gianluigi Donnarumma[/a] at his near post, easing in a positive period that led to the opening goal, as Rayan slipped in [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/evanilson/lUqxFifa/"]Evanilson[/a], whose first-time ball across goal was side-footed home by the arriving [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tavernier-marcus/jFqXIRZj/"]Marcus Tavernier[/a].[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/maresca-enzo/nJsvYDRG/"]Maresca[/a]’s side had dominated possession, but aside from a well-saved Haaland header, barely threatened an equaliser before the break.[/p][p]Instead, it was [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bournemouth/OtpNdwrc/"]Bournemouth[/a] looking the likelier to score next, Tavernier bending an effort just wide before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kluivert-justin/fq4lU5sI/"]Justin Kluivert[/a]’s low shot was parried away by Donnarumma.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="ebe647ed-b514-48f6-9919-178b0e8907ad" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="f473370c-3b45-4d04-988a-785c343c52c9" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Bournemouth had won just two of their nine PL openers (D3, L4), but luck appeared to be on their side as they survived a major scare after the restart, seeing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/guehi-marc/KEeklutO/"]Marc Guehi[/a] miss a free header from inside the six-yard box with the goal at his mercy.[/p][p]Maresca turned to his bench for inspiration, and there were moments of promise as Haaland peppered the Bournemouth goal, yet the new-look striker continually failed to make clean contact.[/p][image alt="Manchester City's Marc Guehi scores their first goal" id="8b0a34d0-370b-4839-9ab0-734c72b2b2bc" credit-line="REUTERS/Chris Radburn" guid="104933e5-2223-48f1-be5a-1d1bd142567c" original-width="5453" original-height="3546" /][p][b]Thankfully for the home fans, Guehi atoned for his earlier miss with a bullet header that arrowed into the net six minutes from time, having been left completely unmarked again.[/b][/p][image alt="Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates after a VAR review" id="76ae9723-da42-4c73-be22-433444c7b529" credit-line="Reuters/Jason Cairnduff" guid="6438ec72-fabc-49e9-b6e7-b9a04fbed726" original-width="2446" original-height="1620" /][p][b]That set up an intriguing finale, and there was still time for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gvardiol-josko/86K1f1fd/"]Gvardiol[/a] to turn the game on its head in stoppage time, surviving a VAR check by staying onside to tuck home at the death.[/b][/p][p]Despite a commendable performance, defeat for Rose means that a new manager has yet to win at the Etihad Stadium in their first PL game (D1, L4).[/p][p]That dramatic late goal ends the Cherries’ unbeaten league run of 18 matches (W8, D10). As for City, a late turnaround won’t mask an underwhelming performance but does at least give Maresca a winning start in the league.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/guehi-marc/KEeklutO/"]Marc Guehi[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]Manchester City[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/bournemouth-OtpNdwrc/manchester-city-Wtn9Stg0/summary/stats/?mid=ILLvry8r"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]