Silva Sparkles As Man City Beat Newcastle 5-0
Man City 5-0 Newcastle United: Silva sparkles against abject Magpies Manchester City put their defeat to Southampton behind them with a comprehensive 5-0 home victory over Newcastle United on Wednesday.
The 1-0 loss at St Mary’s Stadium was City’s ninth of the Premier League season and left them a demoralising 23 points behind new champions Liverpool at the top.
That gap was closed back to 20 – while the distance to Chelsea in third was stretched to nine – as Pep Guardiola’s side brushed aside Newcastle through goals from Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and a Federico Fernandez own goal.
Newcastle were happy to cede possession and keep their defensive block in place, but the game plan was undone just 10 minutes in when Jesus finished from Silva’s cut-back after some slack marking.
The visitors were unable to cope with City’s high press and when they lost the ball again 35 yards out, De Bruyne ran onto Phil Foden’s simple pass and squared for Mahrez to side-foot home.
That goal meant City became the first team to have five players hit 10 goals in a single Premier League season and there should have been another when Jonjo Shelvey gave up possession but Foden shot wide. Foden somehow prodded wide with the goal gaping soon after the restart, but City had only to wait until the 58th minute for their third goal, Matt Ritchie kicking the ball in off Fernandez while trying to stop Jesus.
Silva made it 4-0 with a precise free-kick from 25 yards out, the disjointed Newcastle wall summing up the Magpies’ scant overall resistance, and the Spaniard set up substitute Sterling for a simple fifth after intercepting a pass.
