It was a case of ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try again’ for Jeremy Doku as he saw his efforts rewarded in the impressive 6-1 win over Bournemouth.

Doku, irresistible in the weekend victory, was thrilled to see his fine strike nestle in the back of the net to open the scoring for City.

It was even sweeter against the Cherries because he failed with a similar effort in training on the eve of the game.

“I think everybody thought I was going to shoot,” said the Belgian pace ace.

“That’s when I saw Rodri alone and I knew he would understand to do a one-two and he did. He’s a top player.

“Yesterday we tried it, but it didn’t work.

“It was the perfect pass – I just tried to hit the ball right into the corner and it worked. It was a nice goal.”

Not only did Doku score, he also provided four assists, making him the youngest player in Premier League history - at 21 years and 161 days - to have five goal involvements in one game.

However, one of those assists looked at first sight to be another Doku goal only for another angle to show it struck Manuel Akanji’s back on the way through.

Ever the team player, the exciting winger was unperturbed to see the effort chalked off his personal tally.

“I thought it was my goal, but he touched it,” admitted Doku.

“In the end though I don’t care – it’s a goal, it doesn’t matter who it is.

“I’m happy for him. The most important thing is that we won.”

City now have a top trio of games to look forward to.

There’s Young Boys at the Etihad on Tuesday in the Champions League before Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and a home assignment with Liverpool the following Saturday – the Blues and Reds games both in the Premier League.

They are mouth-watering encounters and Doku described them as ‘very big ones’ as we aim to keep building momentum in the 2023/24 campaign.

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Champions League

Juventus

GMT

Man City
Manchester City

“Very big ones but we’re prepared for it,” added Doku.

“We’re a big team, now we are going to recover and prepare for the next game.

“We have a lot of demands – every game we play we try to win and play in a good way.

“That’s what Pep [Guardiola] and the club demands from us.”