Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 7y

Sergio Aguero will improve his discipline at Man City - Pep Guardiola

MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola says Sergio Aguero must improve his discipline, with the striker set to be banned for Manchester City's next four matches.

Aguero was sent off in injury time of City's 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday for a reckless high tackle on defender David Luiz.

The Argentine will have his suspension increased from three games to four because he has already served a three-match ban this season for an elbow on West Ham defender Winston Reid.

"He's sent off, we are going to accept the ban and keep going," Guardiola told a news conference. "We will improve."

Fernandinho was sent off pushing over Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas in the ugly scenes that followed Aguero's red card and will also miss City's next three games as well as Tuesday night's clash with Celtic in the Champions League after being sent off in the 1-1 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach last month.

"I will speak with my team how we handle these situations," Guardiola said. "The way they handled the game they have to understand.

"It is completely different when I play in Italy from Spain so I have to adapt to English football."

Despite the result, Guardiola felt his side played better against Chelsea than they had in their previous two Premier League victories away to Crystal Palace and Burnley.

City led at the Etihad in the first half through a Gary Cahill own goal and wasted a number of chances to increase their lead -- Kevin de Bruyne missing the best opportunity when he slammed the crossbar from close range.

Chelsea responded with three second-half goals to snatch the win to move four points clear of fourth-placed City at the top the Premier League but Guardiola insisted their performance was a big improvement.

"I am more satisfied the way we played [against Chelsea] than for example the last two games away when we won," the Spaniard added.

"Maybe we are happy because we won, but at that moment I was worried because I said to the players: 'Guys we have to start to play better, like in the beginning of the season. Be free in your minds and play, be aggressive with the ball with the same personality, it doesn't matter what happens, just play and attack.'

"And they did it, and did it, I think personally, quite well. But of course we don't win so always we have something to approve."

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