10 February 13, 2022The Sunday Times 2GS
Football Premier League
put him under extreme pressure, only
for the linesman to spot an offside.
Dias then hauled down Rashica as the
Norwich man made a thrilling run out
of his own box into the Manchester
half and was rightly booked. Nor-
wich’s brief purple patch finished
with Grant Hanley heading power-
fully against an upright from Pierre
Lees-Melou’s cross.
Otherwise, it was Gunn’s goal
which was under the most sustained
attack as Norwich struggled to con-
tend with their opponents’ move-
ment and were forced into desperateManchester City were more like the
team we have come to know and
admire and it was some surprise that
they were only one goal up going into
half-time, after a frantic first 45 min-
utes of goalmouth action in which
Norwich also created good chances.
The hosts’ threat was largely car-
ried by strong running with the ball by
Milot Rashica and Brandon Williams,
who succeeded in punching a few
holes in the away defence, with Rúben
Dias in particular suffering one or two
uncomfortable moments. The first
was after two minutes when RashicaNORWICH CITY
0MANCHESTER CITY
Sterling 31, 70, 90, Foden 48 4T
his was as comfortable a vic-
tory as the scoreline sug-
gests, with Raheem Sterling
grabbing the easiest of hat-
tricks and Phil Foden also
getting on the scoresheet as
Manchester City again
moved 12 points clear at the
top of the Premier League.
Sterling opened the scoring with a
curling effort in the first half, and took
away the match ball after adding two
relatively simple second-half goals,
the first with a close-range header and
the second from the penalty spot after
substitute James McAtee was hauled
down late on. Angus Gunn managed
to get a firm hand to Sterling’s first
effort from the spot kick, but the
England international followed up to
score and Norwich City hardly man-
aged to lay a glove on the visiting team
after a lively first 30 minutes.
“Raheem had a fantastic game,
especially after the first goal. He
became more confident and was
aggressive and direct,” Pep Guardiola,
the Manchester City coach, said. “He
has been an incredibly important
player this season with his goals.Sterling steps
up to maintain
procession
Paul Rowan
At Carrow RoadSTEPHEN PONDSterling
celebrates his
hat-trick goal,
left, and Foden,
below, also
scored in a
comfortable
victory for City at
Carrow RoadStar man Phil Foden (Manchester City).
Substitutions: Norwich City S Byram 5 (for
Aarons 63min), M Normann 5 (for Lees-Melou 63),
K Dowell (for Sargent 87).
Manchester City J McAtee (for Silva 75), L Delap
(for Foden 82), Kayky (for Mahrez 84).
Referee A Marriner. Attendance 27,010.Ederson7Aké7
Walker7
Zinchenko7Sterling7
Mahrez7Dias6Fernandinho7
Silva7
Gundogan8Foden84-3-3Gunn7Hanley7
Williams6
Aarons4
Gibson5Lees-Melou5
Rashica7
Gilmour5
McLean5Sargent5
Pukki64-4-2When he has confidence he is a really
important player.”
With the Etihad hierarchy hoping
that Sterling will soon sign an exten-
sion to his contract, which has less
than 18 months left, this was a timely
reminder of what the England inter-
national has to offer. The mood
around Jack Grealish was less positive
as he was missing from the squad
entirely, having sustained what is
believed to be a shin injury in training
over the last few days.
Curiously lacklustre in their previ-
100 ous away game against Southampton,This was Dean
Smith’s 100th
Premier League
match as a
managerHOW THEY STAND
P W D L F A Pts
Fulham 30 19 7 4 78 26 64
Bournemouth 30 17 7 6 49 26 58
Blackburn 31 15 8 8 45 33 53
QPR 30 15 7 8 46 34 52
Huddersfield 32 13 11 8 40 34 50
Middlesbrough 30 14 7 9 38 29 49
Nottm Forest 31 13 8 10 43 33 47
Sheffield Utd 29 13 7 9 39 33 46
West Brom 30 12 9 9 34 26 45
Luton 30 12 9 9 41 36 45
Preston 32 11 12 9 35 35 45
Coventry 29 12 8 9 39 34 44
Stoke 30 12 7 11 38 32 43
Blackpool 31 11 8 12 34 37 41
Millwall 30 10 1010 31 33 40
Bristol City 31 10 7 14 41 55 37
Birmingham 32 9 9 14 37 49 36
Swansea 29 9 8 12 29 38 35
Hull 31 9 5 17 26 36 32
Cardiff 30 9 5 16 36 50 32
@Reading 30 8 4 18 36 60 22
Peterborough 29 5 5 19 23 60 20
*Derby 31 9 12 10 32 35 18
Barnsley 30 3 8 19 19 45 17
* deducted 21pts for breaching financial rules
and for going into administration
@ deducted 6pts for breaching financial rulesMitrovic record keeps Fulham on course
Aleksandar Mitrovic equalled the
record number of goals scored by any
player in a regular Championship
season this century when he headed
Fulham’s winner in the 1-0 victory at
Hull City (Peter Wilson writes). His
57th-minute effort was his 31st of the
campaign, the same number that
Ivan Toney struck for Brentford last
season, and gave Fulham’s head
coach Marco Silva a happy return to
his former club.
Bournemouth are still six points
behind leaders Fulham but they
struck late to win 2-1 at Blackpool and
move five points clear of third-placed
Blackburn Rovers. The visitors had
already squandered an opportunity
to go in front when Dominic
Solanke’s penalty was saved by
Daniel Grimshaw. Josh Bowler’s
wonderful goal made them pay. But
substitute Jamal Lowe equalised in
the 86th minute, before new signing
Siriki Dembélé, inset, fired in the
winner.
Reading fans invaded the
pitch at the SCL Stadium
at the end of their
seventh straight defeat,
3-2 at home to Coventry
City, as anger towards
the club’s owners and
manager Veljko Paunovic
intensified. Fans had
marched on the ground
before the match, which marked
150 years since their first competitive
fixture.
Lucas João headed Reading in
front. Dominic Hyan and Michael
Rose replied within minutes either
side of half-time. Andy Yiadom
levelled, but Junior Hoilett’s red cardproved costly for the home side. Ian
Maatsen’s deflected shot soon after
proved the winner.
Birmingham City supporters threw
tennis balls on to the St Andrew’s
pitch against Luton Town as part of
their ongoing protest against
the club’s owners. But it was
game, set and match for
their side, who won 3-0.
Juninho Bacuna scored
his first goal for the club
to put them in front.
Lyle Taylor and Onel
Hernández , who also
arrived last month, gave
the fans some joy.
Nottingham Forest were held 2-2
at home by Stoke City but it was a
point saved rather than two points
lost for the in-form home side as the
substitute Ryan Yates headed a
stoppage-time equaliser. Forest had
volatile goalkeeper Brice Samba sent
off five minutes from time, with thedefender Joe Worrall having to go in
goal. Lewis Baker scored from the
resulting penalty to give Stoke a 2-1
lead. Forest’s Brennan Johnson and
Josh Maja of Stoke had scored earlier.
Bottom club Barnsley won for the
first time in 14 league games, 1-0
against Queens Park Rangers.
Domingos Quina’s strike was their
first winner since Poya Asbaghi
became manager and it ended QPR’s
seven-match unbeaten league run.
Murray Wallace and Mason
Bennett struck in the last 17 minutes
as Millwall ended Cardiff City’s three-
match winning run 2-1. Joel Bagan hit
a stoppage-time reply.
Cameron Archer struck ten
minutes from time to extend Preston
North End’s unbeaten run to five
matches with a 1-0 win at
Peterborough United. Huddersfield
Town stretched their unbeaten
league run to 12 matches with a 0-0
home draw against Sheffield United.CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND-UP