İlkay Gündoğan and Joao Cancelo star as Manchester City thrash West Bromwich Albion

Manchester City stormed past West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday evening, putting five past the home side with Pep Guardiola’s side now an impressive 18 games without defeat.

A first half brace from İlkay Gündoğan, accompanied by solitary efforts from Joao Cancelo and Riyad Mahrez gave the visitors a comfortable four-goal lead at the break. Raheem Sterling then added City’s fifth in the second half.

Believe it or not, it was West Brom who started the livelier of the two. The Baggies had done well to pen the visitors back into their defensive quarter, even forcing Brazil international Ederson into action.

Semi Ajayi was quickest to react following somewhat of a goalmouth scramble but ultimately saw his prodded effort kept out by a combination of blocks from the City ‘keeper and John Stones.

A mere few minutes later, the inevitable took place as Guardiola’s side took the lead. The well-travelled Cancelo floated an inch-perfect ball into the feet of Gündoğan who continued his fine goalscoring form.

The World Cup winner simply took a touch, looked up, picked his spot and placed the ball to the left of Sam Johnstone with ease, leaving the Manchester United academy graduate rooted to the spot.

The Citizens then doubled their advantage with a little help from VAR. Bernardo Silva was originally adjudged offside before feeding the ball into Cancelo who whipped his effort well into the top left-hand corner.

West Brom’s defence seemingly took their foot off the gas following the raised flag of lineswoman Sian Massey-Ellis, but her call was shortly deemed incorrect as after a brief stop in play the goal was given, resulting in a red faced Baggies defence.

By the half an hour mark, City had averaged one goal every ten minutes as Gündoğan once again widened the deficit.

The 30-year-old continued his rich vein of form, single handedly pioneering his second of the evening as he dispossessed Romaine Sawyers, prior to fooling Dara O’Shea with his tricky footwork and slotting his low driven effort to the left of Johnstone and into the back of the net once more.

There was not a moment’s rest for the home side as the Citizens’ tenacity failed to falter, adding a fourth before half-time.

This time it was Mahrez who displayed his magic, Kieran Gibbs failed to close the winger down, before he wrapped his left foot around a tidy effort which settled nicely into the top left-hand corner.

If the game wasn’t over already, City made sure of their three points little over ten minutes into the second half. 

Aymeric Laporte, who came on in place of goalscorer Gündoğan in the 52nd minute, dinked a through ball over the West Brom back line which was graciously met by Mahrez prior to the Algerian teeing up captain Sterling to tap home into an empty net from close range.

Man City continued their dominance throughout the remainder of the half but, almost surprisingly, failed to add a sixth against a Baggies side which ultimately failed to cause their opponents any trouble whatsoever.

It’s a worrying time for the West Midlands outfit who are now staring directly down the barrel at relegation. 

Remarkably, it’s the second time that West Brom have suffered a 5-0 defeat under Allardyce’s short tenure so far, having lost by the same scoreline to Leeds United just under a month ago. 

3-0 and 4-0 losses to Aston Villa and Arsenal respectively have also been endured since the Englishman took charge – certainly not the most promising signs.

As for the Citizens, their title charge is now well and truly underway. 

City sit top of the table, one point ahead of city rivals Man United with half of the season left to play. If they continue performing at this standard, it will be hard to see anyone catching up with them anytime soon. 

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