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Manchester City cruised to a convincing 4-0 win against Norwich City at Carrow Road to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to 12 points.
A Raheem Sterling hat trick and Phil Foden strike helped Pep Guardiola’s side to continue their fine form this season.
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City made a number of changes for the match ahead of the Champions League tie against Sporting Lisbon in midweek with Kevin de Bruyne and Joao Cancelo not named in the starting lineup.
However, the Premier League champions produced an impressive display to steer clear of title challengers Liverpool who face a trip to Burnley on Sunday.
“You’re not going to score everything that goes your way but keep shooting and the goals will come,” Sterling, City’s top scorer this season with 10 league goals, told Sky Sports.
“To be a top team the challenge is to keep winning every three days.”
Both sides had chances to break the deadlock in the early stages with Riyad Mahrez and Grant Hanley striking the woodwork.
The visitors silenced the home crowd after 31 minutes when Sterling produced a stunning curling effort past Norwich goalkeeper Angus Gunn.
City doubled their lead just after the break after Foden managed to bundle the ball over the line.
Sterling grabbed his second after 70 minutes as he headed into an empty net from Ruben Dias‘ flick on from Foden’s corner.
In the final minute of the game, City were awarded a penalty when Hanley brought down Liam Delap.
Sterling’s initial penalty was saved by Gunn but the England international tapped home the rebound to grab a treble.
“[We need] a lot of points. We know what rival we have, the closest one is Liverpool,” Guardiola said.
“They won’t drop many points for the quality they have. It’s the best squad they have in the last decade. We’ll have to win a lot of games.”
Information from Reuters was included in this report.