West Brom 0 Manchester City 3. All eyes were on Raheem Sterling as he took his bow for Man City, but it was one of the senior Citizens who inspired the former champions to a comfortable 3-0 win over West Brom at the Hawthorns.
Two goals from Yaya Toure in the opening half-hour killed off the game and Vincent Kompany's second-half strike rounded off an impressive night's work for the Sky Blues. Later, Kompany revealed that last season's underwhelming domestic and European campaign had given him and the rest of the City squad plenty to think about over the summer.
"Last season was below what we're used to doing," explained the Sky Blues' captain. "We came out knowing we had a point to prove. Obviously there are a lot of favourite teams now and we're not part of it, I've heard... it's something that gives us extra motivation."
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Toure gave the visitors the lead after just nine minutes when his shot took a deflection off team-mate David Silva to beat Baggies keeper Boaz Myhill. A quarter of an hour later the Ivorian midfielder doubled the Citizens' advantage with a sweetly-curled shot into the top corner, and midway through the second half Kompany head home City's third to leave them in good heart ahead of Sunday's clash with Chelsea.
The one disappointment for City fans was the performance of the 20-year-old Sterling, who made a controversial £49m move from Liverpool earlier in the summer. Booed throughout by the home fans, he wasted a couple of good chances and looked like the new boy he is. Asked for his analysis of Sterling's debut, Kompany replied: "Raheem has given us sharpness and speed to hurt teams when we're defending... it gives other teams things to think about. It gives us that bit of danger we need and we have so many tools to hurt teams."
The result left the home fans deflated after they had arrived at the Hawthorns buoyed by the news that the club had completed the signing of striker Salomon Rondon from Zenit St Petersburg for a club record fee of around £12m.
Manager Tony Pulis took the blame for the defeat, telling the post-match press conference: "I have to take responsibility for this one. I played Saido Berahino and Rickie Lambert and that left the midfield too open. It went against the principles I have always worked to and it has given me a rude awakening. I won't be doing that against the big teams."
