Manchester City 5-1 Bournemouth: Raheem Sterling hits hat-trick

Raheem Sterling hit a first-half hat-trick as Manchester City remained top of the Premier League with a 5-1 win over Bournemouth.

The England man was in clinical mood to net his first treble of his career as Wilfried Bony also helped himself to two goals against a defensively ragged and injury-hit Bournemouth side.

Glenn Murray did reduce the deficit to 2-1 at one stage but City's firepower was just too much for Eddie Howe's men.

Manuel Pellegrini's side sit two points clear of Manchester United with the pair due to clash on Super Sunday next weekend.

The day could have turned out very differently if the referee had deemed Nicholas Otamendi, who was the last man, had fouled Dan Gosling inside the area on five minutes after he was released in behind the City defence. Instead, Mike Dean ruled the City man had got the ball.

There were slight fears regarding where City's goals would come from with both Sergio Aguero and David Silva ruled out with injury but in their absence Sterling and Bony stepped up.

Sterling's first goal came on seven minutes when a Pablo Zabaleta header across the six-yard box was poked into his path by Bony and he made no mistake from close range.

Bony doubled the lead three minutes later after visiting goalkeeper Adam Federici, who replaced Arthur Boruc close to kick-off when he was injured in the warm-up, parried a cross into his path inside the six yard box. He simply couldn't miss.

With the game threatening to become embarrassing for Howe's men, they burst into life on 22 minutes. Murray was found on the edge of the box after a brilliant passing move and he finished clinically with a powerful low drive.

However, Bournemouth's inability to defend with any authority continued to cost them as Sterling danced past two defenders off the right wing on 29 minutes to slide home from close range.

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Kevin De Bruyne tried to get in on the act on 44 minutes but his fine drive from 20 yards was fingertipped onto the bar by Federici.

However, just as the goalkeeper started to make up for his howler for the Bony goal, he let his team down once again on the stroke of half-time.

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A long ball forward that was never reaching the goalkeeper drew him off his line and Jesus Navas nipped in front of him and took the ball towards the empty net.

However, the midfielder, who hasn't scored in over 50 games, looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights in front of goal and allowed Federici back to make a save before Sterling fired home the rebound.

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There could and should have been more goals for Sterling in the second period, but he poked wide from close range on 62 minutes and fired into the side netting four minutes later before he was replaced with the clock running down, as were De Bruyne and Yaya Toure.

Bony did add to the scoring with one of the last attacks of the game.

Navas made good ground down the right wing before finding the striker in the area, who spun his marker and fired into the bottom.

For City it was a case of no Aguero, no problem. But bigger challenges lie ahead. 

Soccer Saturday verdict: Charlie Nicholas

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Bony was a little rusty as you could imagine. Bournemouth actually started very well, and were kept out by a couple of last-ditch challenges.

Then, all of a sudden, a couple of diagonal balls from De Bruyne opened everything up.

At 2-1 one, after Murray scored, you think game on, but you cannot defend like that against Man City.
Newcastle were bad enough when they crumbled in the second half, but Bournemouth did it in the first half here, and by the time Sterling had got his hat-trick, it was game over. It was a lot of mistakes rather than brilliant football.

This could be a springboard for Sterling. In that position, a little deeper, he can run at players, but when Silva comes back, he will have to go back to a wider position.

Player Ratings

Man City: Hart (6), Zabaleta (7), Otamendi (7), Mangala (7), Sagna (7), Fernandinho (7), Toure (7), Navas (7), De Bruyne (8), Sterling (9), Bony (8)

Subs: Fernando (7), Nasri (6), Iheanacho (6)

Bournemouth: Federici (5), Francis (5), Cook (5), Distin (5), Daniels (5), Smith (6), Gosling (6), O'Kane (5), Surman (6), Ritchie (7), Murray (7)

Subs: MacDonald (6), Pugh (6), King (6) 

Man of the match: Raheem Sterling