Manchester City got their 2024/25 Premier League campaign back on track with a thumping 4-0 win over Newcastle United on Saturday.
Omar Marmoush scored a scintillating hat-trick against Newcastle, and breathed fire back into Manchester City‘s season in the process.
Man City are back on track now after the devastating performance against the Toon, and Pep Guardiola’s only gripe was the lack of atmosphere inside The Etihad.
It was a hugely rewarding afternoon all-round for Pep and his players, and the perfect pick-me-up ahead of Wednesday’s crucial clash with Real Madrid.
Perhaps now City can find some real consistency during the final few months of the campaign.
After the win over Newcastle, one of Man City’s ever present stars during the six Premier League title wins since 2017 opened up on something truly staggering.
Manchester City’s Ederson makes injury admission after Newcastle
Ederson seems to be getting back to somewhere near his best now, after being dropped earlier on in the season.
His assist for Marmoush against Newcastle added a bit of gold-dust to his performance.
The Man City star now has more assists than any other goalkeeper in Premier League history, with six to his name in total.
And the 31-year-old made an incredible admission after the game.
The Brazilian stopper responded when asked about his spectacular assist for City’s new Egyptian King, as quoted by The Mirror:
“I’m happy to make this mark,” said Ederson. “I hope there’s more to come.”
Ederson was then asked whether the assist for Marmoush was something that he had been working on during training:
“Honestly? No. We’ve not trained it too much, because I’ve had a little problem in my groin. It’s normal. I remember in my first two seasons here we practiced it a lot. It’s natural now. I see the movement, the ball comes to me and I play it into space.“
Ederson admission incredible on two fronts
Firstly, the fact that Ederson hasn’t even worked on that routine in training proves just how talented he is with the ball at his feet.
Secondly, we now know that the former Benfica goalkeeper has been nursing a groin problem.
Taking both of those things into account, it’s incredible really that he has been able to maintain the level of performances that he has done.
Sure, the 31-year-old has made the odd mistake here and there, but he’s still in the top 95th and 97th percentile respectively in world football this season for saves from shots on target and defensive actions outside the penalty area (Fbref).
Manchester City fans will obviously be hoping that Ederson’s groin injury is nothing too serious – he’s incredibly vital to everything good that Pep’s team do.
His assist for Omar Marmoush on Saturday was quite simply breathtaking. Can you imagine what he’d be capable of without the groin problem and the ability to practice the long-ball routine in training!