LONDON: Manchester City followed up the opening three-day weekend of the Premier League season by looking down in satisfaction on the rest of the table.

A 4-0 demolition of twisted and tangled Newcastle at Eastlands was a perfect start for new Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini and lifted City top of the fledgling chart on goal difference – above champions and neighbours United.

David Silva opened the scoring with a header after just six minutes. Sergio Aguero added another before the break, then Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri wrapped up an easy win in the second-half.

Newcastle were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when centre back Steven Taylor elbowed Aguero in the head and left referee with no option but to send him off.

Pellegrini said: “The most important thing always is to win but afterwards, it is the way we did it. It was a very good start. I was very confident the team would play well because we worked very hard during pre-season.

“We are trying another style of football and maybe we can continue improving every week but for the first match we did it very well.”

The only downside of victory was a groin injury wjocj forced skipper Vincent Kompany off and left Javi Garcia filling a central defensive slot alongside Joleon Lescott.

Pellegrini said: “I can’t tell you exactly what happened with him but  think it is a serious injury and maybe (he will be out) for one or two weeks.”

Impressive new boys

There was praise for two of his new signings Jesus Navas and Fernandinho, who both impressed, whilst Pellegrini was also happy with the contribution of Edin Dzeko.

The Bosnian has failed to recapture his free-scoring form from the Bundesliga since his move to England two-and-a-half years ago and spurned a succession of good chances against Newcastle. However, his all-round performance was excellent and he set up Aguero with a brilliant back-heel.

Pellegrini said: “I have a lot of trust in Edin Dzeko. It was a pity he didn’t score because he had a lot of chances, but he played very well. We all know he is a very good player with the ball but today he also played without the ball. He worked a lot on trying to recover the ball in attack.

“I am sure we are going to see this season the Edin Dzeko that Manchester City bought two ago from Wolfsburg. I spoke with him the first day I arrived here and I am sure we will see the Dzeko all of you are waiting for.”

For Newcastle it was the worst possible start to the season, with influential midfielder Yohan Cabaye the subject of interest from Arsenal and Taylor facing a three-match ban.

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