With three Fernandinhos we´d win the league – Guardiola

Fernandinho has been pivotal to Manchester City’s unblemished start to the Premier League season according to Pep Guardiola, who would like more players like the Brazilian in his side.

City put their 100 per cent domestic record on the line against second-place Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday, having failed to win for the first time this season in a pulsating 3-3 Champions League draw at Celtic in midweek.

Fernandinho scored the first of three equalisers for Guardiola’s men in Glasgow – his second goal of the season – and the 31-year-old has been a relentless influence on the side from a nominally defensive position at the base of City’s central midfield three.

“That is because Fernandinho can do everything,” Guardiola told reporters.

“What we have achieved so far would have been impossible without him. He is fast, he is intelligent, strong in the air and he can play in several positions.

“No sooner does he see a space than he runs there immediately. If you need someone to make a correction or a challenge, he sees it too.

“If a team had three Fernandinhos, they would be champions. We only have one and he is very important to us.”

Raheem Sterling joined Fernandinho by scoring at Celtic Park and has been one of the overwhelming success stories under Guardiola so far.

On the back of a sapping Euro 2016 experience with England, Sterling has been revitalised and credits his manager for removing some of the shackles imposed during Manuel Pellegrini’s time in charge at the Etihad Stadium.

“It was really difficult because I didn’t feel I could play my natural game,” he said of his time under the Chilean in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Source: soccerway.com