Points for Guardiola, pain for Ranieri as EPL season starts
LONDON — Pep Guardiola’s first match in charge of Manchester City ended with an unconvincing 2-1 win over Sunderland on Saturday, just hours after the new English Premier League season got underway with a shock defeat for champion Leicester at Hull.
With $200 million spent on new players and Guardiola arriving from Bayern Munich to manage an already impressive lineup, City is the hot favourite to win the league this season.
But instead of making a stylish debut against modest opposition, Guardiola’s team needed an 87th minute own-goal by luckless Sunderland defender Paddy McNair to start with a win.
At least the outcome was better than Leicester’s at Hull, where the champions were left stunned by a 2-1 defeat to a newly-promoted team.