Sterling’s hat-trick moves Man City nine clear as Man Utd again let lead slip

London: Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points above Liverpool, as Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick in their 4-0 win away to struggling Norwich City.

Sterling put his side ahead in the 31st minute and Phil Foden netted early in the second half to put Pep Guardiola’s side out of reach of a rival that worked hard, but suffered from a gulf in class.

Sterling then rounded off the win with goals in the 71st and 90th minutes to pressure Liverpool ahead of their visit to Burnley on Sunday, Xinhua reports. Manchester United missed a chance to move into fourth place after being held 1-1 at home to Southampton.

Che Adams’s goal early in the second half cancelled out Jadon Sancho’s first Premier League goal in front of his home fans, and although Harry Maguire almost won it at the end for United, Southampton had plenty of chances of their own to take all three points.

Everton won their first Premier League game under Frank Lampard and will breathe a lot easier after goals from Seamus Coleman, Michael Keane and Anthony Gordon gave them a 3-0 win at home to Leeds United.

Coleman and Keane had put Everton 2-0 up by the 27th minute and the result leaves Everton five points above the bottom three, with Leeds just a point above them.

Watford remain rooted in the relegation zone after sliding to a 2-0 defeat at home to Brighton. Neal Maupay fired Brighton ahead at the end of the first half and Adam Webster netted the second from close range with eight minutes left to play.

Brentford ended a run of five consecutive defeats with a 0-0 draw at home to Crystal Palace, who themselves have just one win in 2022. A tight game began after Brentford fans gave recent signing Christian Eriksen a standing ovation as he was presented on the pitch and saw both sides have penalty appeals turned down. – IANS