De Bruyne delighted to spark City goalrush

Kevin De Bruyne was happy to help Manchester City rediscover some of their attacking verve on a goalscoring Premier League return at AFC Bournemouth.

De Bruyne volleyed a marvellous second as City raced into a 3-0 lead within 19 minutes before running out 4-0 winners at the Vitality Stadium.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side failed to find the net in three of their previous four league matches but the likes of David Silva and Sergio Aguero – who headed the third – were revitalised with De Bruyne alongside them.

“It’s nice to come back this way. It makes it a little easier if you are 3-0 ahead after 20 minutes,” the Belgium international told City’s official website.

“In the first half an hour especially we played very well and created a lot of chances.

“We could maybe even have scored a fourth one but I think in the second half we controlled the game and it was a nice ending for us.

“Obviously, we didn’t score a lot of goals in the last few games. This can happen but as long as you create chances you will score goals.

“The goals that we scored were nice attacking goals. They will look at the other side but I think the way we created so many chances was very good. The first half especially was very good.”

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe conceded he was unsure whether De Bruyne would be thrust straight back into the City line-up and rued his side being on the receiving end of a super individual showing.

“In the two games against us he has been absolutely outstanding,” Howe commented.

“He’s a very, very talented player and I think it’s unfortunate for us that he came back against us.”