Raheem Sterling struck a deflected injury-time winner to give Manchester City victory after a hard-fought contest at Bournemouth – only to then be sent off for his celebrations.
It looked as though Pep Guardiola was going to be left frustrated for the second time in a week following the home draw against Everton before Sterling’s last-gasp strike looped in off Andrew Surman to seal a 2-1 victory.
Sterling was shown a second yellow card after celebrating in among the jubilant away fans as Bournemouth were left with nothing to show for a strong showing after Gabriel Jesus had initially equalised a stunning Charlie Daniels strike.
It is easy to hand the accolade to Daniels for his memorable goal alone, but the Bournemouth man, operating as a wing-back for much of the contest, covered every blade of grass in his team’s effort.
Daniels has become one of the first names on Eddie Howe’s team sheet at the Vitality Stadium and on this showing it is easy to see why.
Charlie Daniels
Daniels opened the scoring with Bournemouth’s first goal of the campaign – and it was a strike to remember.
The Cherries had started the game well without testing Ederson in the City goal, but the young goalkeeper had no chance of keeping out Daniels’ rasping drive.
As Vincent Kompany’s header dropped, the 30-year-old caught it sweetly and saw the ball fly past Ederson and into the back of the net off the crossbar to send the home support into raptures.
Jesus’ equaliser means he has now been directly involved in 12 City goals in just 11 Premier League starts – scoring eight and providing four assists.
Asmir Begovic 7
Steve Cook 6
Nathan Ake 5
Tyrone Mings 7
Adam Smith 6
Dan Gosling 7
Andrew Surman 7
Harry Arter 6
Charlie Daniels 8
Joshua King 7
Jermain Defoe 7
Substitutes
Benik Afobe (for Defoe, 72) 6
Lys Mousset (for Afobe, 90) 5
Ederson 6
Danilo 7
Nicolas Otamendi 6
Vincent Kompany 6
Benjamin Mendy 7
Fernandinho 7
Raheem Sterling 7
Kevin de Bruyne 7
David Silva 8
Bernardo Silva 7
Gabriel Jesus 7
Substitutes
Sergio Aguero (for Bernardo, 66) 6
Leroy Sane (for Jesus, 82) 5
John Stones (for Silva, 90) 5
Arsenal v Bournemouth (Premier League, September 9 )
Manchester City v Liverpool (Premier League, September 9 )
