MAN CITY 5, CRYSTAL PALACE 0
Manchester City’s unquenchable thirst for goals saw them thrash Crystal Palace to claim outright hold of top spot in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s side, that had been joint first with their Old Trafford neighbours, has now found the net 27 times in eight competitive games as they remain an irresistible force on the front foot.
And City became the first top-flight side since Blackburn Rovers in 1958/59 to score five or more goals in three successive games.
Yet for 44 minutes it looked anything but a walkover as spirited Palace, who have now lost all six league games, were well set up and resolute under new manager Roy Hodgson.
City scored at a perfect time as Leroy Sane found the net on the stroke of half time. Had it remained goalless at the break, the second half could well have panned out differently.
Palace were forced to change their approach in the second half enabling them to be picked off at will by a rampant City who added further goals from Sterling (2), Sergio Aguero and Fabien Delph.
City’s manager admitted he was not happy with his side’s first-half display, and that was why he also remonstrated with a ball boy to get the ball back in play quicker.
He said: “We started good for the first five or 10 minutes and created chances. We then forgot the ball should be moved quickly. Our pressing was not good and everything was slow.
“In the last 10/12 minutes of the half we got the right tempo and it helped to score in the last minute.
“In the second half, we were like we have been in the last week, patient and attacked quicker.”
Guardiola was asked how hard it was to leave out Sane at the start of the season.
He continued: “He didn’t have a good pre-season and didn’t deserve to play. We have five strikers who all deserve to play. And we need them sharp.”
Palace manager Roy Hodgson admitted it was hard to take positives from a 5-0 defeat.
He said: “We matched City or certainly kept them at bay for 44 minutes and kept them at bay and managed to create good moments on the counter attack.
“We wanted to repeat that but, when that didn’t happen in the second half, we were disappointed and accept we have a headache and need asprin to remedy it.
“Hopefully I could see some light at the end of the tunnel in the first half, but those lights went out in the second half.”
Hodgson added they must continue to work hard as next two opponents Manchester United and Chelsea are capable of punishing them similarly.
But he added it is imperative not to view their plight as hopeless in September recounting his great escape with Fulham when they took 11 points from a possible in their last five games to stay up.
City made one change from the side that walloped Watford last Saturday.
Sane, who scored both goals in the Carabao Cup win at West Brom in midweek, was rewarded with a start in preference to Gabriel Jesus.
It was clear from the start it would be a long afternoon for Hodgson’s side as City carved out chances from the start.
Mamadou Sakho headed against his own upright from a Kevin De Bruyne cross while Sane, Benjamin Mendy, Nicolas Otamendi, Fernandinho and Sterling all had goal attempts in the opening 16 minutes.
Yet Palace almost snatched the lead with their first attack after 19 minutes when Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot was deflected on to the upright with keeper Ederson Moraes beaten.
And Loftus-Cheek went close again as a shot from an Andros Townsend cross went wide.
City were forced to make a change just short of the half hour when Mendy, hurt following a challenge by Townsend, was forced off to be replaced by Danilo.
The flow of City chances virtually dried up, though Aguero had a great chance to break the deadlock, but fired over from eight yards.
But City made the breakthrough at a perfect time in the 44th minute.
Sane played a delightful return pass with David Silva, flicked the ball over the head of Scott Dann and cooly slotted the ball low past keeper Wayne Hennessey from inside the six-yard box for his fifth goal of the season.
And it was 2-0 and game over less than six minutes into the second half as Sane turned provider as he whipped in a delightful low cross from the left that was converted by Sterling for a straightforward finish.
Sterling ought to have added a third goal three minutes later, but fired into the side netting after Hennessey parried De Bruyne’s cross into his path.
It was 3-0 just before the hour as Sterling got his second when Aguero squared a Be Bruyne cross into his path for a simple finish, his fifth goal in the last four Premier League games.
The floodgates were open as Hennessey also pulled off important saves to deny Aguero and Sane.
Sterling made way for Bernardo Silva on the hour as Guardiola clearly had eyes on Tuesday’s Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk.
John Stones was replaced by Fabien Delph with 20 minutes left, City’s second change.
City added a fourth goal in the 79th minute when Sane provided an assist with a cross from the left that Aguero headed low past Hennessey. It was his 176th goal for City as he moved within one of equalling Eric Brook’s club record.
It was 5-0 in the last minute when Delph bent in a spectacular effort from 20 yards into the roof of the net, a fabulous finish to round off another clinical display.