CITY’S SIXTH SENSE

Sterling puts sorry Saints to the sword.. but Pep’s still striving for perfection

IT was embarrassing at times to see the gulf in class.

Manchester City toyed with Southampton, they were far too good and, in truth, the scoreline could have been heavier.

But what is more worrying for the rest of the Premier League is how on earth they can possibly get closer to Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions.

This season was supposed to be harder than last year’s procession, yet it shows no sign of changing and if anything City look even better. Raheem Sterling was fabulous, scoring twice, and helping to set up another three. For people to question the value of his new £300,000-a-week deal highlights their ignorance because no City fan is complaining. Sterling has got them all on the edge of their seats whenever he gets the ball.

Then there was Sergio Aguero scoring his 150th Premier League goal and Leroy Sane getting in on the act with a late sixth. But if you really wanted a taste of their dominance then there was an excruciating period of play in the first half with City already 3-1 up.

Aguero nutmegged and turned a defender inside out, they could not get close to Sane’s one-touch brilliance and then Sterling was almost trying to dribble the ball into the net.

For once, City could not find a way through, but the Saints were almost standing back admiring... they could not get close enough to make a tackle.

It felt like the whole stadium was taking a collective deep breath to marvel at City’s brilliance because in this form surely they are also the best in Europe. Incredibly, this was City’s 24th win by a margin of five in the Premier League, 11 of them under boss Guardiola and you also get the sense it was still short of perfection.

After all, City conceded their first goal in 630 minutes when Danny Ings finally punctured their defence, while Guardiola also more than once threw a touchline strop when Benjamin Mendy made a clumsy mistake.

The truth is there probably is more to come from this City side and that will be the worry for the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and the rest.

Saints looked beaten from the moment they conceded after just five minutes. Aguero and David Silva combined, Sane put over a cross and Southampton defender Wesley Hoedt diverted it into his own net.

It was a nightmare start which only got worse when Sterling broke into the box and cut the ball back to Aguero who slotted home in clinical fashion.

City made it three inside 18 minutes when Sterling’s cross glanced off Sane’s head and then Silva drove in at the back post.

At that point, it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for Southampton. But they hit back on the half-hour mark after Ings latched on to a through ball, with City keeper Ederson having a rush of blood to the head and making a needless

challenge to concede a penalty. Up stepped Ings to fire in coolly.

City had to wait until first half injury-time for their fourth.

Aguero got to the byline and cut the ball back for Sterling to score at the second attempt.

Sane hit a post and Sterling made it five after 67 minutes when his low cross-shot beat keeper Alex McCarthy.

They left it late for a sixth with sub Phil Foden breaking, Sterling feeding and Sane scoring.

The only bizarre thing was that the Etihad was not sold out, and that is mystifying considering what a treat it is to watch City.