Manchester City tightened their grip on a top-four spot with a convincing 5-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
The outstanding David Silva, who passed a fitness test to feature, set City on their way to three crucial points in the Champions League qualification race by scoring after just two minutes.
Captain Vincent Kompany doubled dominant City’s lead at the Etihad Stadium before Kevin De Bruyne, who also hit the woodwork and set up two goals, and Raheem Sterling got on the scoresheet and Nicolas Otamendi headed a late fifth.
Below is our player ratings, man of the match and verdict.
Manchester City
Willy Caballero 7
Fernandinho 7
Vincent Kompany 8
Nicolas Otamendi 7
Gael Clichy 7
Yaya Toure 7
Raheem Sterling 7
Kevin De Bruyne 8
David Silva 8
Leroy Sane 7
Gabriel Jesus 6
Substitutes: Pablo Zabaleta (for Silva 68′), Jesus Navas (for Sane 84′), Kelechi Iheanacho (for Jesus 84′)
Crystal Palace
Wayne Hennessey 7
Joel Ward 5
Martin Kelly 4
Jeff Schlupp 5
Patrick Van Aanholt 5
James McArthur 5
Luka Milivojevic 4
Jason Puncheon 5
Wilfried Zaha 5
Christian Benteke 6
Andros Townsend 6
Substitutes: Lee Chung-yong (for Townsend 57′, 5), Mathieu Flamini (for Milivojevic 67′), Damian Delaney (for Kelly 76′)
Man of the Match
Kevin De Bruyne
May not have scaled the heights many expected this season, but the Belgian’s brilliance is there for all to see. Ran the show and just pipped Silva for his match-winning assists.
Verdict
This was as easy, as convincing a performance and result as it has been for some time. City were efficient, full of energy and exciting again, scoring four but it could have been much more.
With their defensive problems, Palace had Kelly and Schlupp, usually full-backs, in at centre-back and looked constantly uncomfortable against the pace and trickery of the hosts attack.
They were dogged until Kompany’s strike then disappeared. Guardiola blames a lack of goals for the side’s inability to turn their challenge into trophies, but so too the absence of Kompany has been keenly felt.