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EPL Manchester City's Savinho took his chance to impress against Brentford Darren Staples/Getty Images Savinho is a player who has been on the periphery at times this season. Someone who has frustrated Pep Guardiola, but someone the Manchester City boss still believes in. In the past fortnight, Guardiola and City have been starting to see glimpses of improvement from the Brazilian. The latest positive development came in the 2-0 victory over Brentford, which booked City a spot in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Advertisement Savinho scored the second in the 67th minute to put City in control of the tie at the Etihad Stadium after Rayan Cherki’s brilliant opener. This performance against Keith Andrews’ side may not have got Savinho the player of the match award — Cherki shaded him for that honour — but it was somewhat of a riposte to those starting to question how much value City were getting out of the £33. 2million ($44m) they had paid to City Football Group’s French side Troyes in 2024. It was a timely performance for the winger, with Jeremy Doku facing a spell on the sidelines with a leg injury and City’s supposed interest in Bournemouth’s two-footed Antoine Semenyo. The next challenge for Savinho, at 21, is to perform like this consistently. Savinho’s goal came with a hefty slice of fortune, as his strike hit Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer and looped over goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson. Yet it was a fine run that saw the Brazilian stretch the Brentford back line before he cut in and fired towards goal for his first this season against top-level opposition. Guardiola, exacting as he is, was critical of Savinho’s defensive movements in a 26-minute cameo against Fulham earlier in December. Days later, he praised him for improving upon them in a substitute appearance against Sunderland, in which City won 3-0. The acclaim was for tracking back when he lost the ball and going from an attacker to a full-back in seconds. As part of seven changes for the League Cup tie, this was another chance for Savinho to show he deserves more than what was just his ninth start of the campaign. He hasn’t started in the Premier League since October, and his last start in any competition was the 2-0 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on November 25. It was an opportunity to prove he can fill in for Doku in bigger games, and should there be a move for Semenyo in January, he may be up for that tussle, too. Advertisement Oscar Bobb picking up a hamstring injury and being withdrawn after 19 minutes further weakens Guardiola’s depth in the wide areas. With Omar Marmoush at the Africa Cup of Nations and Cherki and Foden finding form in more central areas, Savinho will hope to get more opportunities. This was a performance full of energy and plenty of bravery on the ball. No player won more duels than the 11 he did out of 21 entered. While Guardiola demands defensive responsibility from all on the pitch, it is in attack that Savinho will want to impact. His 12 dribbles included seven successful ones. That ratio could be improved, but it showed he wanted to make things happen. There was a wild snatch at a shot on the edge of the area in the first half and a decent cross that was cut out by the Brentford defence. In the second half, he got his goal on the counter before he switched wings to the right side, where the left-footed attacker cut in on two occasions to trouble Brentford, with one of the movements ending with a low strike. His decision-making was not always perfect and some passes in the final third squandered possession, but his willingness to keep trying was what impressed Guardiola. “What I like from Savinho is always he’s digging, digging, go, go, go all the time, all the time, ” said the City boss. “The final decision can be better, of course, but always there’s reward with this work ethic, especially that he goes, and he goes all the time like Jeremy (Doku) when he has the ball. Last season, he played a lot, a lot of minutes with us. “Sometimes this season we don’t play with proper wingers, slightly different to last season, maybe he plays less, but we trust a lot. ” As Guardiola noted, Savinho’s minutes this season have reduced. He played 3, 087 last term if you include the summer’s Club World Cup. As we head towards the halfway stage of this campaign, his 90 minutes against Brentford took him to 941. Advertisement His output is down as well, with just two goals and three assists so far. Last term, he created 13 goals and scored four. City will hope for more from him. Tottenham Hotspur made an approach to sign him in the summer, but City opted not to sell, and instead the player extended his contract until 2031. Doku’s form this season and the arrival of new attacking midfield options such as Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders have come at the same time as a dip in form from Savinho, limiting his chances. Now City are linked to Semenyo, who has a £65m release clause in his contract at Bournemouth, which could bring more competition if they were to trigger it when the transfer window opens. That remains in question, but City, even with Doku improving his attacking output this term, still lack killer instinct from the wide areas, the kind of threat once posed by Riyad Mahrez. For now, Guardiola remains buoyed by Savinho’s potential. “He’s young, can play right and left side, ” he said after the Brentford win. “And he’s a player that is so aggressive, and with time he will improve his final decision, will become a top, top class player. ” Chris Mc Kenna spent more than 11 years working for the Daily Star as well as the Daily Mirror and Daily Express covering football and boxing. He also covered the World Cup final in 2022 and boxing’s biggest events of the last decade.