Unstoppable Gundogan stars again as Man City hit top spot after WBA rout

Ilkay Gundogan TEAMtalk

Manchester City hit the Premier League summit again as Ilkay Gundogan bagged a brace in a 5-0 rout of sorry West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Pep Guardiola’s men were 4-0 up at the break after a scintillating display, with Gundogan, Joao Cancelo and Riyad Mahrez all on target.

Raheem Sterling added a fifth shortly after the break as City eased off the gas and played keep ball for the remainder of the game.

The heavy defeat for the Baggies keeps them 19th in the table, six points from safety.

Mahrez and Oleksandr Zinchenko started for City at the Hawthorns as they chased an 11th-straight win.

The pair replaced the injured Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, who dropped to the bench.

Karlan Grant recovered from a foot injury to start for the hosts, while Robert Snodgrass returned along with Darnell Furlong.

Gundogan opened the scoring after just six minutes when he collected Cancelo’s searching pass and curled a brilliant strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

It came after Phil Foden had already hit the post for City.

Raheem Sterling TEAMtalk

Cancelo doubled City’s lead after 20 minutes when he curled the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.

It needed a lengthy VAR check to give the goal after Bernardo Silva was initially flagged offside in the build up.

Gundogan shines in City win

Gundogan made it 3-0 after half an hour when he robbed Romaine Sawyers on the edge of the area to fire in his second of the night.

It was 4-0 in first-half injury time when Sterling teed up Mahrez to score.

Mahrez and Sterling combined after 57 minutes to make it 5-0 when the England forward tapped in his ninth goal of the season.

City then played out the rest of the half in second gear, as the home side failed to provide any threat.