Antoine Semenyo revelling in new role under Enzo Maresca at high-flying Man City

· Mirror

Antoine Semenyo scored twice in a stand-out performance for Manchester City as they made it five straight wins to kick off their Premier League campaign on Sunday against Sunderland

When Antoine Semenyo drilled in his second goal against Sunderland with his left foot, he ignored the opportunity to set up a sitter for Erling Haaland.

Perhaps he was conscious of the fact Haaland had shanked a golden chance earlier in the game. Or more likely, he is continuing to hone his striking instincts. His double in the 5-3 win were his first goals of the season but he now has 13 in 34 appearances for Manchester City, complementing 13 assists.

Semenyo is relishing the licence given to him on the left flank by Enzo Maresca but should Haaland need a rest, or get injured, he would be more than happy to assume central striking duties. Semenyo said: “I've heard about his back-up striker thing. I don't know where it's come from, but yeah. If I need to, then I'll do it. I've no problem in doing that.”

And Semenyo is clearly enjoying life under the new manager, who is enjoying a stellar start to his time at City. He said: “We've been together for seven or eight weeks now, so it's not been too long, but we're doing well. We're winning our games and we'll keep improving.

> “Everyone feels good. I mean, it's where we want to be. We're not going to get too complacent, too relaxed. We know that there are a lot more games to go. And yeah, we just want to continue winning. So we just have to keep going.”

Semenyo has started every Premier League game under Maresca, establishing himself as an immediate favourite. But with the wealth of options at Maresca’s disposal, he is taking nothing for granted.

> He said: “It's healthy competition at the end of the day. You want to have all the top players chasing your position. You have to keep going, if you slip up, you know someone else is coming in and taking a spot.”

And with Haaland only contributing one of the five goals against Sunderland, Semenyo is happy with the increasing number of scoring options. He said: “I feel like everyone in the team could come up with a goal when needed. That's a very good thing. But yeah, again, we just need to keep creating and whoever's there finishes.”

Enzo Fernandez was amongst the scorers against Sunderland and Semenyo has been hugely impressed by the Argentinian midfielder. He said: “It's good to have him. He's nice, calm, collected, aggressive when he needs to be, but he obviously has his quality on the ball. So we're happy he's in the team and there will be many more goals and assists to come.”

And Semenyo is enjoying having the faith of his new boss. He said: “I've enjoyed it, to be fair. I think for wide players, we're high and wide, and we get a lot of one-versus-one situations, and he backs us to win our duels. But even if you lose them, then just keep going. But collectively, it's quite similar to last season and like I said, we just need to keep improving.”

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