NEWCASTLE, England (Reuters) -Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo scored one goal and made another as they overwhelmed struggling Newcastle United 4-0 on Sunday to ensure they will spend Christmas Day top of the Premier League.
The visitors were gifted the opening goal in the fifth minute when Cancelo acrobatically crossed for Ruben Dias to head into an empty net after a mix-up between Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and defender Ciaran Clarke.
Cancelo added a second in the 27th minute, cutting in from the right wing and capping off a solo run with a stunning strike to silence the home crowd.
Newcastle were denied what looked to be a clear penalty on the half-hour mark when City keeper Ederson clattered into Ryan Fraser, but neither referee Martin Atkinson nor the VAR decided to intervene.
Despite starting the second half with a pair of fine saves from Dubravka, things got worse for Newcastle as Mahrez turned home Kevin De Bruyne’s cross from the left wing with a deft volley in the 63rd minute to notch his 50th Premier League goal.
Newcastle had introduced Allan Saint-Maximin off the bench at halftime for Joe Willock but they only managed one effort on target over the 90 minutes – a close-range header from Callum Wilson that forced a superb one-handed save from Ederson.
Sterling’s industrious performance on the wing was rewarded in the 86th as Gabriel Jesus drove the ball across the goal and the England forward slammed it home to complete the rout.
The dominant performance keeps City top on 44 points, four ahead of second-placed Liverpool, who visit Tottenham Hotspur later on Sunday, and six clear of Chelsea in third after they were held to a 0-0 draw nL1N2T40AU at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Newcastle stay second-bottom on 10 points.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor, editing by Ed Osmond and Ken Ferris)
