London: Pep Guardiola's dream start to his Manchester City reign continued with an eighth win in eight matches in all competitions, a scintillating victory over Bournemouth being ignited by Kevin de Bruyne's ingenuity at the Etihad.
The in-form Belgian scored a cheeky 15th minute freekick, deliberately firing beneath the wall of jumping defenders to set the Premier League leaders on the way to a dazzling victory which preserved their 100 per cent record.
Amid some champagne football, Kelechi Iheanacho finished off a flowing team movement 10 minutes later before repaying Raheem Sterling's goal assist with the pass that enabled the England international to make it three soon after the break.
Ilkay Gundogan, on his Premier League debut, notched his first goal following more fine work from the magnificent De Bruyne, who was involved in every goal, but Nolito's needless late red card for aiming a head-butt at Adam Smith took some of the gloss from Guardiola's ideal day.
In another match, Attacking midfielder Nacer Chadli marked a superb home debut with two goals and two assists for West Bromwich Albion as they beat hapless West Ham United 4-2 at the Hawthorns to hand the Londoners their third straight Premier League defeat.
Signed from Tottenham Hotspur for a reputed club record 13 million pounds ($16.90 million) in August, Chadli slotted home an eighth-minute penalty after Arthur Masuaku handled the ball in the box. He then set up Jose Salomon Rondon half an hour later to double the advantage.
James McClean steered home a ball from Chadli to make it 3-0 before halftime, and the 27-year-old Belgian made it four 11 minutes into the second half when he finished a counter-attack by firing Rondon's pass into the net.
Dimitri Payet mounted something of a fightback for West Ham, crossing for Michail Antonio to score and winning a penalty which Manuel Lanzini converted, but once again Slaven Bilic's side came up short as West Brom held on.
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