Manchester City 3-0 Wigan: Daily Mirror match report

Four wins out of four. Fifteen goals scored and second only to Manchester United in the table.

Add to that four goals from Edin Dzeko last time out and now a hat-trick for new signing Sergio Aguero, who has settled in instantly and looks ready to light up the Premier League any time he likes.

And all this with Carlos Tevez in the shadows still waiting to put his stamp on the season.

Yet Roberto Mancini claims he is only targeting a place in the last 16 from Manchester City’s first Champions League campaign.

His downbeat prediction may be at odds with the optimism of fans who are delighted to be sitting at European football’s top table after decades watching United feast there. But Mancini has reason to be cautious.

He has not forgotten his unhappy experiences of the competition with Inter Milan and despite winning three successive Serie A titles, he never made it past the quarter-finals. He knows the Champions League is uncharted territory for several of his players and feels Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli, who are first up at the Etihad on Wednesday, will provide tough opposition.

“We can say we want to win the Champions League because all the teams who enter it want to win it,” said the Blues boss. “But for us now it’s important we reach the second stage. This is our Champions League target.

“The Champions League is a different competition from the Premier League.

“If you lose a game in the domestic championship, you have time to recover. If you lose a game in the Champions League, you don’t have that opportunity. The Champions League is a good competition, but you need luck.”

Caution was hardly the watch word on Saturday after Aguero bagged three against Wigan to take his tally to six goals in his first four league games.

The little Argentinian lived up to Mancini’s comparisons with Romario as he displayed ice-cool nerves to take his goals with clinical precision.

He completely overshadowed compatriot Tevez, who had a low-key first start of the season for City after being stripped of the captaincy in the summer.

Tevez played a part in Aguero’s 13th-minute opener, but then had a penalty saved and compared to his heroics last term, looked more Clark Kent than Superman. But as devastating as Aguero was, it would be wrong to single out only him for praise.

David Silva pushed Aguero close for man of the match and has already established an almost telepathic understanding with him.

Full-backs Gael Clichy and Micah ­Richards attacked at will and City have thrown off ­Mancini’s defensive shackles from last season.

Admiring Latics boss Roberto Martinez said they reminded him of Barcelona three years ago when they were starting out on world domination and for Messi, Iniesta and Xavi read Aguero, Nasri and Silva.

Aguero, 23, said: “Barcelona have played together for a lot of years in the same style and have great players,” he said. “But we also have good players with ability on the ball.

“Nasri and myself have only come to City this season but there are players, like David Silva, who were here before and who have a similar style and way of thinking which allows us to keep the ball, to try to dominate possession.

“What we want to do is keep developing our own style of play and improve from there.

“We’re feeling good because we’re creating a lot of chances and scoring goals. That’s our own style and what we want to develop.”

Yet Mancini was unhappy with the number of chances City squandered in the first half.

In addition to Tevez’s botched penalty, Richards hit the woodwork and Wigan might have embarrassed City had not Joe Hart saved well to keep out Hugo Rodallega’s volley just before the hour with the score 1-0.

Mancini responded by replacing the rusty Tevez with Samir Nasri and within two minutes the Frenchman set up Aguero for the decisive second goal.

Six minutes later, Aguero completed the scoring to claim his hat-trick ball in English football. Comments written on the ball by his team-mates included Clichy’s, “You don’t need to speak English to score goals”.

Martinez added: “They have gone to another level this season. The quality they have in their squad will allow them to be strong in every competition.”