Pep Guardiola paid tribute to the unique and enduring talents of Sergio Aguero and David Silva after they inspired City’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth.

Four hundred proved to be the magic number for both men on a day when the Argentine showed his instincts in front of goal are as sharp as ever and the mercurial midfielder pulled the strings with typical class.

Silva was making his 400th appearance for the Club, while Aguero hit a brace to bring up the same number of career goals and Guardiola was delighted with two players who rank amongst the very best to wear the sky blue shirt.

“What can I say, everybody knows him [Silva],” he said.

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

“It was so important [Aguero’s second goal].

“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.”

The champions had to content with the host’s aerial threat in a physical game which was often open and it wasn’t our slickest performance.

Ederson was forced to make several important saves, but City dominated possession and with Aguero, Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling providing a constant outlet, it was no surprise that our attacking quality shone through.

The performance left Guardiola feeling his team can improve, but he was satisfied we found a way to win a game which had posed a number of threats.

“It was a tough game as always here,” he explained. “Big compliments to the players.

“Bournemouth set up so deep. They are strong with long balls with [Joshua] King, [Callum] Wilson and [Philip] Billing, with set-pieces and [Steve] Cook’s throw-ins into the box.

“They are stronger than us, but the quality of our forward players won us the game.

“Yeah, there’s a lot [we need to change]. In our defensive box we have to be more solid. But it’s 2 o’clock, a sunny day, the rhythm is low and we knew it would be difficult, but we solved it.

“I said congratulations [to the players].

“Sometimes it is more difficult to play today than Tottenham at home, with our fans, the rhythm, and you know Tottenham want to play, and here they set up waiting for the second balls to the long balls.”