STOKE CITY .......0 MAN CITY ..........2
MATCH ACTION
TWO-GOAL David Silva fired Manchester City to just three wins from the title at Stoke last night.
And if they and Manchester United win their next games, City will be crowned champions by beating Jose Mourinho’s men at The Etihad on April 7.
Silva ran from deep to sweep City ahead after ten minutes before doubling the lead in the 50th minute as Pep Guardiola’s side dominated against their relegation-threatened opponents.
He should have bagged a hat-trick, shooting narrowly wide with nine minutes to go.
DAVID SILVA showed just why City fans believe he is a magician.
The man they call Merlin banged in two goals to set rampant City on their way.
Silva conjured up a 10th-minute goal to floor the plucky Potters before they’d really had time to do anything about it.
And then he grabbed another five minutes into the second half to really set City flying.
Stoke made a decent fist of it but were blown aside by the mercurial talents of Silva and his pals.
The little Spaniard has had a tough time lately, spending time back in Valencia with his wife and premature son.
But he hasn’t lost any of his powers as City try to nail down the business of winning the title.
They kicked off knowing that victory here and over Everton on March 31 would give them the chance to be crowned champions at home to their arch-rivals Manchester United on April 7.
First Silva capped off a cracking move which tore the home side apart down their left flank. He slid the ball home from 12 yards after Raheem Sterling had curled a beautiful ball across the box.
Stoke went in at half-time full of heart that they might find a way back but Silva had other ideas.
He played a lovely one-two with Gabriel Jesus and when the ball came back to him he faced a tricky one-on-one with Jack Butland. The England keeper made himself big but Silva bypassed him with a deft touch and rolled the ball in.
Stoke wouldn’t have taken too much comfort from the fact that the brilliant Sergio Aguero was missing from City’s line-up due to a knee injury.
Wealth
The Argentinian was an unused sub in October when they went to the Etihad and returned home on the end of a 7-2 thumping.
City have such a wealth of talent that they have become a seemingly unstoppable force.
They’ve won the Carabao Cup, are into the quarter-finals of the Champions League and their relentless pursuit of the title is almost over, although boss Pep Guardiola warned beforehand of the need to avoid complacency. Despite Silva’s double, Stoke were determined not to be hammered this time around and offered stern resistance.
Xherdan Shaqiri caused one or two problems and put in some great work in the 21st minute to set up Badou Ndiaye but his shot was deflected and flew just wide. Then Stoke got themselves in a pickle when Bruno Martins-Indi dropped a back pass too short for Butland leaving him in a straight fight with Kevin De Bruyne.
Butland got there first but took a whack on the ankle for his trouble.
And a minute later City should have gone 2-0 up when Jesus raced in at the post to meet a De Bruyne free-kick but somehow failed to make a connection.
Stoke threw the odd punch here and there and City keeper Ederson had to backpedal furiously to tip the ball over after Kyle Walker sent it looping towards his own goal in his hurry to snuff out Jese.