400 the magic number as Guardiola hails Silva, Aguero

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed Sergio Aguero's "unique" skill of sniffing out chances in front of goal, and David Silva's ability to ghost past defenders after Sunday's 3-1 Premier League victory at Bournemouth.

Argentine striker Aguero scored a brace to chalk up 400 goals in his career on a day Spanish midfielder Silva played his 400th match for City in all competitions.

"The game was tight and you know everything could happen. And Sergio, you know his sense of goals in the box is unique in the world," Guardiola told reporters.

"Big compliments to the players ... it was so important (Aguero's second goal)."

Before the match, Guardiola had said he was "happily wrong" after doubting the diminutive Silva's ability to succeed in England since signing in 2010 from Valencia.

The 33-year-old left Guardiola lost for words after another classy display in which he provided an assist for forwarding Raheem Sterling's goal and Aguero's second.

"What can I say, everybody knows him," Guardiola said of Silva, who said in June he would leave the club at the end of the 2019-20 season.

"He has the sense to move between the lines like nobody else in the world -- he is a fighter."

City's record goalscorer Aguero opened the scoring with help from Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, who became the quickest in Premier League history to reach 50 assists.

De Bruyne reached the milestone in his 123rd game, eclipsing the record held by Arsenal's Mesut Ozil who needed 141 matches.

"Congratulations to Kevin ... he's an amazing player," Aguero told the club's website.

"He and David, their assists are so good. We're happy because they play for us for the manager with this squad, it's hard to make decisions on the starting eleven."

Champions City host Brighton & Hove Albion in the league on Saturday.