Manchester City eased to a 4-0 win over Newcastle at St.James Park today to maintain their position at the summit of the Premier League and give Abu Dhabi the bragging rights over their gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia.
Pep Guardiola’s side would take the lead after just five minutes when Ruben Dias pounced on a dreadful mistake from fellow centre-back Ciaran Clark to head home from close range.
City would double their lead on 27 minutes via a thunderous shot from Joao Cancelo from the edge of the area, the Portuguese international striding forward unchallenged before unleashing a pile driver into the top corner from 20 yards out.
Newcastle would be denied a stonewall penalty when Ryan Fraser was wiped out by City ‘keeper Ederson but bizarrely neither the referee nor VAR decided to award a spot-kick.
Just after the hour mark and City would kill off any hopes of an unlikely Newcastle comeback, Riyad Mahrez confidently stroking home a classy volleyed finish from an Oleksandr Zinchenko cross.
Four minutes from time and Raheem Sterling would put the icing on the cake for the league leaders, the 27-year-old tapping home after some excellent work down the left by Gabriel Jesus.
Speaking afterwards Guardiola was happy with the result but suggested his side’s performance left a lot to be desired at times.
34 – Manchester City recorded their 34th league victory of 2021, establishing a new record for the most top-flight wins by a team in a calendar year. Architect. pic.twitter.com/4IX2Bpc1KK
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 19, 2021
“A good result, not a good performance. We were lucky but Newcastle did not defend well for the first goal and a brilliant action from Joao Cancelo for the second goal,” Guardiola told BBC’s MOTD.
”The first half was one of the worst we have played this season and second half was much better.
“We played better with the ball, gave players more touches but were losing balls in the first half. We were calm at half-time and spoke about what we should do.
“It was a fantastic goal (from Cancelo), we know the quality he has in the final third and he dribbled and did it.
“Records show consistency we have as a team, it is not winning titles or finals but it is winning and winning. Records are there to be broken and happy to have them.
“I didn’t rotate today, I decide the best team, we need a different base for the players and now we have seven days until the next game. Hopefully Leicester are getting better with a lot of Covid cases so I will take a decision on the team.”
Next up for City is a home clash with Leicester on Boxing Day.
