Manchester City extends their lead at the top of the Premier League back to 12 points with a commanding 4-0 victory over Norwich FC at Carrow Road.
Raheem Sterling was the show star with a hat-trick, scoring a beauty to breakthrough in the first half.
After the restart, Phil Foden added a second before Sterling notched a tap-in and then scored his third from a rebound from a missed penalty.
It was a complete performance from Pep Guardiola’s men from start to finish.
Starting Lineup:
NORWICH CITY (4-3-3): Angus Gunn;
Max Aarons, Ben Gibson, Grant Hanley, Brandon Williams;
Pierre Lees-Melou, Billy Gilmour, Kenny McLean;
Josh Sargent, Teemu Pukki, Milot Rashica.
NORWICH CITY SUBS: Sam Byram, Christoph Zimmermann, Kieran Dowell,
Przemyslaw Placheta, Mathias Normann, Christos Tzolis,
Dimitrios Giannoulis, Michael McGovern, Jon Rowe.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson;
Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Oleksandr Zinchenko;
Ilkay Gundogan, Fernandino, Bernardo Silva;
Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling.
MANCHESTER CITY SUBS: John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne,
Joao Cancelo, Scott Carson, Kayky Chagas, Liam Delap, James McAtee.
Goals:
1-0. England forward punishes a mistake by Aarons as he bends a sublime effort away from Gunn into the bottom-right corner.
Walker sends a low cross into the box that Aarons fails to clear, scuffing his attempt straight to Sterling.
The forward takes a touch inside on his right foot in the left inside channel and fires before Aarons can close him down to find the net with a special effort.
2-0. Foden latches on to a cutback from Gundogan and hammers an effort into the net despite the best efforts of Hanley.
Gundogan makes a good run down the left flank and sends a dangerous ball across the face of the goal.
Foden dispatches the first effort towards the goal that Gunn repels.
However, he pounces on the rebound and forces his effort past the keeper before Hanley can clear.
The referee awards the effort using the technology on his watch.
3-0. Sterling scores a simple tap-in to secure the three points for the visitors.
Foden angles a dangerous cross to the back post from the right flank.
Dias rises and unselfishly heads the ball back across the face of the goal.
Sterling is left unmarked and converts with a side-foot into the back of the net.
4-0. Although it was not a perfect way to get the England man has a hat-trick.
Sterling fires on his right foot towards the target from the penalty spot but is denied by Gunn with an abrupt stop.
However, the rebound falls kindly for the forward to dispatch into an empty net.
So, where else do Manchester City and Norwich FC go from here?
The city is next in action on Tuesday in their round-of-16 Champions League clash against Sporting Lisbon.
Norwich plays Liverpool on the road next Saturday in their next Premier League contest next.
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