Five star Manchester City performance

Manchester City may not be challenging for the title at this stage of the season as many anticipated that they would be, but they still need a strong end to the season to assure that Champions League football will be back at the Etihad next season. They hosted Crystal Palace on Saturday, who despite recent improvements, have not secured Premier League safety. 

In what could have been a tricky fixture for City, they got the perfect start, when David Silva hit the back of the net after just two minutes. Palace struggled to establish themselves in the game, but the home side were unable to add to their lead before half time. 

Manchester City doubled their lead just four minutes after the interval through Vincent Kompany, before Kevin De Bruyne put them comfortably 3-0 up with half an hour left to play. With the victory in the bag, Guardiola's side could have taken their foot off the pedal, but they continued their assault on the Palace defence and added two more before full time, with Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi scoring inside the last ten minutes, giving a full time score of 5-0. 

Manchester City have now moved above Liverpool into third place, strengthening their bid for a top four finish. Crystal Palace are still not safe in the battle at the bottom of the table, but it looks like their recent form will have been enough to save them.