Eddie Howe disappointed with Bournemouth's defending

Eddie Howe said Bournemouth "gifted" Manchester City some of their goals as they were thrashed 5-1.

Raheem Sterling hit a first-half hat-trick in the victory as City remained top of the Premier League but Howe's men were the masters of their own downfall with some poor defensive errors.

"We were excellent in spells in the first half but we didn't help ourselves with the mistakes we made - hopefully, it's a learning curve for our players to grow from," Howe said.

"We had been pretty good defensively and we've been giving our self a platform to grow into games. The most disappointed aspect is that we've gifted them goals at times.

"We feel we've got a good balance about us in terms of playing our philosophy, by being entertaining and taking games to teams. Unfortunately today we haven't quite got the balance right and we've been punished."

Goalkeeper Adam Federici, especially, had a bad day at the office for the visitors as he spilled a ball in his six-yard box for the first of Wilfried Bony's two goals and also was involved in an embarrassing mix-up with Andrew Surman for Sterling's hat-trick strike.

Federici was initially named on the Bournemouth bench but was drafted in close to kick-off as first choice Arthur Boruc suffered an injury in the warm up.

Howe thought that late reshuffle didn't help the balance of their team. 

He said: "It's never ideal to lose a player so close to kick-off. It was difficult for Feds [Adam Federici] to step in at such short notice. Arthur has done so well for us and it was a big blow."