Pep Guardiola gives Raheem Sterling verdict after Man City hat-trick

Pep Guardiola described Raheem Sterling as "fantastic" after his hat-trick sank Norwich and re-opened Manchester City's 12-point gap at the top of the Premier League.

England ace Sterling tormented the Canaries defence throughout, and moved on to Riyad Mahrez 's shoulder as the club's top scorer by taking his goal tally to 12 for the season.

Sterling bagged his first hat-trick since he scored a treble during lockdown in a 5-0 win at Brighton, and was unplayable at times, his directness and pace causing untold problems for the Canaries.

After a terrific curling opener, he pounced on Ruben Dias ' header to the far post, and then snapped up the rebound after his penalty had been saved by Angus Gunn.

Guardiola was quick to praise Sterling, whose future remains up in the air, as he has only a year left on his current contract this summer and there are no signs of a new deal being signed.

Said Guardiola: "He had a fantastic game, especially after the goal.

"He was confident and aggressive, direct. He made a fantastic goal, the second one he was there and he has been incredibly important for all these seasons.

"The amount of goals and assists, especially being involved in a long career. When he is confident, he is a really, really important player."

Norwich went toe to toe with City early in the game but the Blues gradually took over.

"We could not expect to have no difficulties in the Premier League and especially here against the best, Norwich," he said.

"They had one chance, one or two chances but before that we had two or three clear chances to get an advantage.

"The first half was tight but it helped us a lot to score the second goal early [in the second half].

"The togetherness has shown again, all of them and this is