Manchester City climbed to the top of the Premier League by handing West Brom another home hammering.
No team in Europe’s top five divisions has conceded as many goals at home as Sam Allardyce’s Albion and they were ruthlessly exposed again by a brilliant attacking display.
For the second week running City were the beneficiaries of a contentious offside call but there can be no doubt that they would have routed the hosts regardless.
Ilkay Gundogan continued his inspired run in front of goal with two excellent strikes, Joao Cancelo scored while an offside flag was raised and several players seemed to stop, and Riyad Mahrez powered in a fourth before the break.
Raheem Sterling got in on the act in the second half as City ended a day on top of the table for the first time this season.
Defeat left 19th-placed West Brom six points adrift of safety going into a massive game against Fulham on Saturday – live on BBC One, the BBC Sport website and the iPlayer.
City were without Kevin de Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus – introduced at 5-0 – and had no out-and-out forward in their team, and still could have scored more goals in an 11th straight win.
Phil Foden had already had a shot turned on to the post when the superb Gundogan controlled a pass over the top, swivelled and clipped the ball into the far corner in one fluid movement.
Then came the game’s bizarre second goal.
Sian Massey-Ellis flagged Bernardo Silva offside as he was played in down the right. His cutback to Cancelo was chipped into the top corner, with the flag still raised and some players stationary.
A VAR check confirmed Bernardo was in fact onside and the goal stood, to Allardyce’s disbelief.
“Listen we all make mistakes,” he said. “She made a mistake and put her flag up too soon.
“You can’t tell me that rubbish about playing to the whistle, that’s nonsense, if the flag goes up you naturally stop. But saying that, she made one mistake. We made far more today.”
Just hours before kick-off authorities sought to clarify a quirk to the offside law that had allowed Silva to score a highly controversial goal for City against Aston Villa in their 2-0 win last week.
Any controversy about this one was short-lived though as Gundogan again demonstrated brilliant awareness to take the ball off Romaine Sawyers inside the area and drive home a seventh goal in eight Premier League appearances.
Mahrez thundered in a fourth, Sterling had a tap-in and Rodri pummelled the crossbar. Could City be champions again? They will take some stopping from here.BBC
