Manchester City put in a stunning performance to thrash Chelsea 6-0 on Sunday, and it came thanks to an historic day from their star striker.
Sergio Aguero scored another hat-trick, his 11th in the Premier League – which now puts him level with Alan Shearer in that particular tally. Just as sweet a milestone, if not sweeter, was that his three goals made him City’s highest-ever league goalscorer.
Here’s a closer look at Aguero’s display.
KEY STATS
Goals – 3
Shots – 6
Shots on target – 3
Dribbles – 2
Passing Accuracy – 89%
Touches – 36
30-SECOND REPORT
Hat-trick against Arsenal last week. Hat-trick against Chelsea here. Aguero is in unstoppable form at the moment, and because of that, so are his team. No one would have expected City to host Chelsea and win 6-0. But thanks to their star striker, that’s what happened, as the Argentine scored a peach, a tap-in, and a penalty to lead his side to victory.
Meanwhile, the hat-trick adds a delicious sub-plot to the title race. Aguero is now level with Liverpool‘s Mohamed Salah atop the league goalscoring charts. Which player, and team, is going to come out on top?
200 – Sergio Agüero has become just the 6th player in PL history to register 200 goal involvements for a single club in the competition, after Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Ryan Giggs (Man Utd), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Frank Lampard (Chelsea) and Steven Gerrard (Liverpool). Legends. pic.twitter.com/spCavA725J
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 10, 2019
GOT RIGHT
Aguero’s second was a great strike, but his first underlined the key aspect of his game: he’s arguably the greatest goal-poacher in world football at the moment. Simple finishes aren’t always easy – more on that later – but just the fact that he’s able to get in position for them, despite his reputation commanding added defensive attention, is remarkable.
The striker actually had the fewest touches of any player in City’s starting XI, only 36. And yet he emerged three goals. His ability to find space in the box is incomparable.
GOT WRONG
Aguero’s only mistake all game was a glaring one. How did he miss an open goal from two yards out?
It was a collector’s item made even more redundant by what came after, which included a header he thumped against the bar in the second half.
Could have scored five, only managed three. Not Aguero’s greatest performance, then?
🔥Sergio Aguero has scored eight Premier League goals for Man City in 2019.
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 10, 2019
🔥🔥Double that of any other player in the competition.
🔥🔥🔥More than 11 other Premier League clubs have scored, including Chelsea (seven)#MCFC #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/Wj4PTgPz1T
VERDICT
The best big-game player in the Premier League? The best player, period? The superlatives are going to keep flowing for Aguero and well they should. Consecutive hat-tricks in games against the ‘Big Six’ is an incredible feat, even more so when the two games are only a week apart.
His inexplicable first-half miss is the only reason this performance hasn’t rated a perfect 10. Although that only serves as a reminder that he could easily have turned this hat-trick into a five-goal display.
🔥Sergio Aguero has scored eight Premier League goals for Man City in 2019.
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 10, 2019
🔥🔥Double that of any other player in the competition.
🔥🔥🔥More than 11 other Premier League clubs have scored, including Chelsea (seven)#MCFC #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/Wj4PTgPz1T
RATING: 9/10