City quietly continue a well-timed climb to top
MAN CITY ......... C PALACE ........
MANCHESTER CITY moved towards the Premier League summit with an emphatic win that underlined their title credentials.
Victory moved them up to second and proved the perfect early birthday present for Pep Guardiola, who turns 50 today.
A double from John Stones and strikes from Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling gave City a comfortable win.
While all the focus was on Anfield, away from the spotlight City are quietly moving through the gears towards the summit.
After an unconvincing start to the season, there is now an ominous look about Pep Guardiola’s side, who stretched their unbeaten run to 15 games in all competitions, with an eighth straight win.
Scorer Stones said: “I put pressure on myself to score goals, I need to contribute and bring that to my game. Today it clicked and the hard work on the training pitch on set-pieces is paying off.
“If we can keep clean sheets we don’t have to come out and score four goals every week.”
The opening goal came in the 26th minute, made possible by a breathtaking delivery from Kevin De Bruyne, curling the ball in with the outside of his right boot for Stones to head home.
Gundogan added another with a stunning, curler from the edge of the area in the 56th minute.
Stones had waited nearly six years for a first Premier League goal for City and claimed his second of the game in the 68th minute, slotting the ball in after Vicente Guaita had saved a header from Ruben Dias, with Sterling adding a fourth with a stunning free-kick late on.