Manchester City bounced back from their Champions League nightmare against Real Madrid in emphatic fashion, beating Newcastle 5-0 to move three points clear of Liverpool in the title race
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Man City v Newcastle: Pictures
If and when the title-sealing moment arrives, Pep Guardiola will not celebrate with more gusto, with more delight, with more satisfaction, than he did here.
It was not so much the victory that pasted a smile back on to Pep’s face – after all, this was a facile win against a Newcastle team who were not posing for group selfies after a truly insipid exhibition. And, in their final three fixtures, Guardiola knows that far sterner tests lie ahead.
But it was the crowning goal that had him beaming, a goal that was the flowing, beautiful definition of everything Pep preaches. He probably could have walked away from the job a happy man after Raheem Sterling had finished the most sumptuous of moves in added time.
That type of goal, conceived by the footballing brains of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, is like a trophy to Guardiola. It is the type of goal Guardiola would give an open-top bus parade to. And, of course, it could have significant implications as City took a foot-pump to their goal difference column.
But whatever that figure is, City should not blow the defence of their title from here. Assuming Liverpool go faultless – and that is a decent-sized assumption – seven points from games at Wolves and West Ham and a home match against Aston Villa should not be a problem for a squad of City’s class and depth.
Once Sterling had put the home side back to the top of the table, this was less a fraught challenge in a tense title battle and more a bracing walk to help sort out the Madrid hangover. Of the current contract issues in the Premier League, one that has gone under the radar is Sterling’s.
Not an automatic pick in marquee club matches, he remains a shoo-in starter for England and will want it to remain that way. So perhaps finance will not be the fundamental consideration when Sterling decides whether or not to extend a deal that expires in the summer of next year.
He will understand that no attacking player, apart from the magnificent-again Kevin de Bruyne perhaps, can count on selection under Guardiola but Sterling rarely lets his manager down when fielded from the off. And that was again the case here when Sterling eased a few nerves by bravely heading in Joao Cancelo’s clever assist.
Sterling’s aerial conversion was in contrast to a Chris Wood miss that could have given Newcastle an early lead. But after the City opener, it was strictly routine stuff for the champions, even if the nature of their second was a little fortuitous, Ilkay Gundogan’s shot clumsily spat out by Martin Dubravka and hammered home by Aymeric Laporte.
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There was nothing fortuitous about Rodri’s headed hammer blow from a De Bruyne corner after half-time or about Foden’s sharp, finishing response to an Oleksandr Zinchenko miscue. And there was certainly nothing lucky about the last which featured a Foden back-heel, a Grealish assist that could not have been more stylish and a Sterling finish that was almost contemptuous.
It was against a Newcastle side that was going through the motions, it will probably have no great bearing on the overall scheme of things but still, Guardiola could not contain his ecstasy. Because titles or not, meltdowns in Madrid or not, this is exactly why he plays the game.
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