Man City thrash Newcastle to go three clear | Grealish: We're in driving seat

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a convincing 5-0 thrashing of Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium.

First-half goals from Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte ensured Pep Guardiola's side settled any pre-match nerves relatively early to take advantage of Liverpool's slip up against Tottenham as they shrugged off their midweek Champions League setback in style.

Rodri added the third goal on the hour mark from Kevin De Bruyne's corner before substitute Phil Foden and Sterling with his second of the game underlined their dominance as City produced an emphatic second-half performance in the Manchester sunshine.

The dramatic defeat to Real Madrid provided an intriguing backdrop to the game and Newcastle did have chances early on - the best falling to Chris Wood.

But City created chances throughout and they now have some margin for error, knowing that two wins and a draw from their remaining games will be enough to retain the title.

Newcastle, with Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier both making their return from injury off the bench, missed the chance to move into the top half of the table and remain in 13th position.

On reflection, Wood's headed chance after eight minutes was a key moment in the game. With Joelinton free behind him, the striker could only nod the ball softly to Ederson. It was a bad miss.

Thereafter, City's opening goal was coming, Laporte skying one volley before Joao Cancelo spurned a similarly inviting opportunity from Oleksandr Zinchenko's cross.

Cancelo did rather better for Sterling's goal, finding the forward from Ilkay Gundogan's raking pass on the diagonal, with the England man doing the rest from close in.

Newcastle did almost have an equaliser