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STOKE-ON-TRENT. — Pep Guardiola admits he is surprised how well Manchester City have started under his management after a 4-1 victory at Stoke City extended their winning start to the English Premiership soccer season on Saturday.

Guardiola’s team have won two English Premier League games, either side of a 5-0 victory at Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League, since the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager replaced Manuel Pellegrini in the close-season.

And the City boss is delighted with his start in English football.

“We have had a short time together and in spells in our last three games my players have shown me how intelligent they are,” Guardiola said.

“They are really good players with a lot of quality which they have shown here in one of the toughest places in the Premier League – at least people told me that.

“We saw again an amazing team spirit, how they communicate between each other, how they celebrated the goals and how they celebrated afterwards with the fans. That is the first step. — AFP.