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omehow there was no goal for David Silva on his Premier League farewell, but that was about the only target Manchester City failed to hit at the Etihad.
Kevin De Bruyne equalled Thierry Henry’s record of 20 assists as well as scoring with two excellent strikes. City brought up a century of league goals for the third time, Raheem Sterling became the first Englishman since Brian Kidd in 1977 to score 20 goals for the club in a league campaign, and Ederson pipped Burnley’s Nick Pope to the Golden Glove award with a clean sheet.
Silva walked off towards the end of his 309th and final Premier League appearance to polite applause around a near-empty Etihad, but nothing compared to what he deserves after a fantastic decade here. At least he will be back here one more time against Real Madrid in the Champions League next month.
Gabriel Jesus celebrates after his goal put Manchester City in the ascendancy in their clash against Norwich on Sunday
Jesus showed impressive composure to steer the ball into the back of the net as City went ahead against Norwich
Kevin de Bruyne celebrates with David Silva after his goal doubled Manchester City’s advantage at home to Norwich
The Spaniard, who hugged his teammates as he left, was then voted man of the match but he would be the first to acknowledge that De Bruyne was a more worthy recipient.
In the week that he lost out to Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson for the FWA Player of the Year award, De Bruyne once again demonstrated why he could yet walk away with the PFA award next week.
The highlight came in added time at the end of the first half when City’s one-goal lead, courtesy of a Gabriel Jesus effort, was looking more than a little vulnerable and De Bruyne received the ball from Kyle Walker 20 yards from goal.
The Belgian was being marked by Marco Stiepermann but that really didn’t seem to matter. De Bruyne transferred the ball to his left foot with a drag back and little flick, and then back onto his right with another piece of trickery.
It gave him the time and space to size up a shot and what a shot it was, curled beyond Tim Krul into the top corner.
That was goal No.99 and the century arrived in the 79th minute when Sterling latched onto De Bruyne’s exquisite throughball to score. Sterling had his 20th league goal – and 30th in all competitions – and De Bruyne had emulated Henry’s assist record set in in 2003.
The Belgium international managed to find the net with an excellent strike on the stroke of half time at the Etihad Stadium
The City players were quick to rush to de Bruyne and congratulate him following his goal in the clash against Norwich
There was still time for Riyad Mahrez and De Bruyne to score again as relegated Norwich said a rather sad farewell to the Premier League.
Their fortunes had changed dramatically since stunning City 3-2 at Carrow Road in September in what proved to be the highlight of their one season back in the top-flight.
That win left them on six points after five games. In the 33 matches since, the Canaries have added just 15 points and this was a 10th straight league defeat.
It has been a miserable spell and one that was summed up by events between the eight and 11 minutes here at the Etihad.
After ten years at Manchester City, David Silva made his final Premier League appearance for the club in this victory
Raheem Sterling looks jubilant after his goal added to City’s lead in their clash against Norwich in the Premier League
Sterling was able to end the Premier League season with another goal as City comfortably took all three points
Onel Hernandez thought he had given Norwich a shock lead when he broke forward from midway inside the City half and got away from three opponents before drilling a shot inside Ederson’s near post.
It looked like a fine goal, and what have been only Norwich’s second in the league since the end of February. However, a routine VAR check showed that the Cuban was offside when he received the ball.
Three minutes later, it was City took the lead instead and this time there was no doubt it would stand. Sterling had already skewed an early shot wide when he played a one-two with De Bruyne and fired in a low cross. Lukas Rupp intervened to thwart Silva in a scramble on the edge of the six-yard box, but Max Aarons touched the ball to Gabriel Jesus who turned it over the line.
Norwich survived another goalmouth melee when Jesus played Kyle Walker in behind and goalkeeper Tim Krul couldn’t hold the defender’s cross-shot.
Silva receives a hug from Pep Guardiola as the midfielder brought the curtain down on his stay in the Premier League
Riyad Mahrez is congratulated by Gabriel Jesus after his goal for Manchester City, which was scored in the 83rd minute
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson won the Premier League golden glove after he kept 16 clean sheets this season
Ben Godfrey made a fantastic block to keep out Jesus’s shot, and the Norwich centre-back was on hand again moments later to deny Silva a farewell goal after Sterling had teed up the Spaniard with a fine run and cutback.
At that stage, Norwich were hanging on but they spurned a great chance to equalise in the 36th minute. Eric Garcia and Aymeric Laporte were involved in a mix-up on halfway and Todd Cantwell sent Teemu Pukki clear on goal. This time there was no question of offside because the Finn was in his own half. However, Pukki seemed to lose confidence with every stride he took towards Ederson as the City keeper came out to the edge of his box. Pukki’s tame effort was easily blocked and Cantwell’s follow-up chip drifted just over the bar.
De Bruyne set up Phil Foden for a shot straight at Krul before Silva again went close, dragging a shot inches wide of the far post after collecting Sterling’s pass and turning away from Christoph Zimmermann in one movement.
Onel Hernandez thought that he had put Norwich in the lead in the opening stages of the game but it was overturned by VAR
Manchester City centre-back Aymeric Laporte passes the ball while he is being closed down by Norwich’s Todd Cantwell
Norwich’s Marco Stiepermann attempts to keep hold of the ball as he is held by Manchester City defender Laporte
The City skipper continued to be frustrated in the second half, twisting and turning to create space for himself inside the box only to see Krul palm his shot away, but nothing was going to stop City from reaching their other targets.
De Bruyne almost got the assist he need when Zimmermann turned his cross against the post before he received a pass from Silva in the 79th minute. He measured an inch-perfect pass through the Norwich defence to pick out Sterling who touched it past the advancing Krul.
Shambolic defending by Norwich under pressure from De Bruyne allowed Mahrez to smash home the fourth goal in the 84th minute, and it was the Algerian’s trickery that led to the ball breaking De Bruyne’s way in the first minute of added time. Once again, he picked his spot and curled an excellent effort beyond the helpless Krul.
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