Manchester City 5-0 Newcastle United

David Silva struck two early second-half goals in a convincing Manchester City win

• Man City record biggest league win since March 2014
• Pellegrini's side 3-0 up after 21 minutes
• City win at home for first time since 4 January
• Newcastle have one victory in eight games

Manchester City recorded their biggest Premier League victory of the season to overwhelm Newcastle and cut Chelsea's title lead to five points.

David Silva scored twice in an emphatic win as the champions took advantage of Burnley's surprise draw at Stamford Bridge to give notice that their title defence is far from over.

With Yaya Toure back from the Africa Cup of Nations to add authority to their midfield and new £25m striker Wilfried Bony starting on the bench, City began with an intensity lacking from their recent performances at Etihad Stadium.

They made the perfect start when Newcastle gifted them a penalty after only 28 seconds, and went on to produce their most fluent attacking display of the season.

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Time to fight for title - Pellegrini

Helped by some more awful Newcastle defending, Samir Nasri soon made it 2-0 from Edin Dzeko's cross before the Bosnia striker ended his 15-game goal drought to put the game beyond Newcastle with only 21 minutes gone.

Along with his energetic performance, the control and composure Dzeko showed to put away Silva's pass was a sign to the watching Bony that he is not guaranteed his place.

But this was an evening where City's entire attack impressed. While Manuel Pellegrini's men have been pedestrian in possession in recent weeks, this time they were fast and furious in their attacks.

At the heart of it all was Toure, making more touches than any of his team-mates and orchestrating their slick one-touch passing game.

Toure de force
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure had 134 touches and made 125 passes - with a pass completion rate of 87.2%

If City's results while the Ivorian was away - they won only one of five league matches and went out of the FA Cup - showed how much they missed him, his return also visibly lifted his team-mates.

Silva joined the party with two fine finishes in quick succession after half-time, compounding the misery of the travelling Newcastle support.

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Bad start cost Newcastle - Carver

Magpies interim manager John Carver has got the job until the end of the season but he has now managed only one win in eight games and this performance did little for his long-term prospects.

By the time Bony emerged from the bench to make his debut with half an hour to go, the game was long-since won.

The only mild disappointment for City was that Bony failed to mark his debut with a goal, with Tim Krul's outstretched leg denying his best effort when he was clean through.

Barcelona will represent much tougher opposition on Tuesday, but this was the perfect preparation for that Champions League last-16 tie.

Sergio Aguero's early penalty was his 22nd goal of the season

Samir Nasri had also scored in City's previous game, a 4-1 Premier League win at Stoke

Nasri's goal was his first at the Etihad Stadium since last May

Newcastle have won just one of eight matches in all competitions in 2015

David Silva has scored nine league goals this season - more than he has ever managed before

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Man City

• 1Hart
• 5Zabaleta
• 4KompanyBooked at 37mins
• 20Mangala
• 11Kolarov
• 8NasriSubstituted forLampardat 70'minutes
• 25Fernandinho
• 42Y TouréBooked at 39mins
• 21SilvaSubstituted forNavasat 59'minutes
• 10DzekoBooked at 83mins
• 16AgüeroSubstituted forBonyat 60'minutes

Substitutes

• 6Reges
• 13Caballero
• 14Bony
• 15Navas
• 18Lampard
• 22Clichy
• 26Demichelis

Newcastle

• 1Krul
• 22JanmaatSubstituted forTaylorat 71'minutes
• 6Williamson
• 2Coloccini
• 19Haidara
• 14ColbackBooked at 29mins
• 8AnitaBooked at 1minsSubstituted forAbeidat 45'minutes
• 11GouffranSubstituted forObertanat 86'minutes
• 7Sissoko
• 17Pérez
• 9Cissé

Substitutes

• 4Taylor
• 25Obertan
• 28Ameobi
• 29Riviere
• 30Abeid
• 32Armstrong
• 41Woodman

Referee:

Chris Foy

Attendance:

45,602

Match Stats

Home TeamMan CityAway TeamNewcastle

Possession

Home57%

Away43%

Shots

Home16

Away8

Shots on Target

Home9

Away1

Corners

Home7

Away3

Fouls

Home9

Away8

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Manchester City 5, Newcastle United 0.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+3'

Second Half ends, Manchester City 5, Newcastle United 0.

Posted at 90'+2'

Attempt missed. Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left following a set piece situation.

Posted at 90'+2'

Attempt blocked. Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

Posted at 90'+1'

Frank Lampard (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 90'+1'

Foul by Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United).

Substitution

Posted at 86'

Substitution, Newcastle United. Gabriel Obertan replaces Yoan Gouffran.

Posted at 85'

Offside, Newcastle United. Ryan Taylor tries a through ball, but Papiss Demba Cissé is caught offside.

Booking

Posted at 83'

Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) is shown the yellow card for hand ball.

Posted at 82'

Hand ball by Edin Dzeko (Manchester City).

Posted at 82'

Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Tim Krul.

Posted at 82'

Attempt saved. Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.

Posted at 81'

Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 81'

Foul by Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United).

Posted at 80'

Yaya Touré (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 80'

Foul by Jack Colback (Newcastle United).

Posted at 78'

Foul by Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City).

Posted at 78'

Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 77'

Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Jack Colback.

Posted at 76'

Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Ayoze Pérez.

Posted at 76'

Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Tim Krul.

Posted at 76'

Attempt saved. Wilfried Bony (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Yaya Touré with a through ball.

Posted at 72'

Attempt saved. Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

Posted at 71'

Delay over. They are ready to continue.

Substitution

Posted at 71'

Substitution, Newcastle United. Ryan Taylor replaces Daryl Janmaat because of an injury.

Substitution

Posted at 70'

Substitution, Manchester City. Frank Lampard replaces Samir Nasri.

Posted at 70'

Delay in match Daryl Janmaat (Newcastle United) because of an injury.

Posted at 67'

Attempt missed. Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jesús Navas with a cross.

Posted at 65'

Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Papiss Demba Cissé.

Posted at 63'

Offside, Newcastle United. Jack Colback tries a through ball, but Moussa Sissoko is caught offside.

Posted at 62'

Foul by Fernandinho (Manchester City).

Posted at 62'

Yoan Gouffran (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Substitution

Posted at 60'

Substitution, Manchester City. Wilfried Bony replaces Sergio Agüero.

Substitution

Posted at 59'

Substitution, Manchester City. Jesús Navas replaces David Silva.

Posted at 56'

Attempt missed. Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City) header from very close range misses to the left. Assisted by David Silva with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 56'

Corner, Manchester City. Conceded by Fabricio Coloccini.

Goal!

Posted at 53'

Goal! Manchester City 5, Newcastle United 0. David Silva (Manchester City) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Sergio Agüero.

Goal!

Posted at 51'

Goal! Manchester City 4, Newcastle United 0. David Silva (Manchester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Samir Nasri.

Posted at 47'

Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Samir Nasri.

Posted at 47'

Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Joe Hart.

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