City’s No.7 has found the back of the net with increasing regularity over the past two seasons and his opening day hat-trick indicated his fine form in front of goal will continue into 2019/20.
Sterling left the London Stadium with the match ball and also having achieved another notable milestone.
His second strike, an expertly executed lob, was his 50th Premier League goal for City, 37 of which have come since the start of the 2017/18 campaign.
Here, we delve a little deeper into the numbers behind his half century…
Ranking
Sterling’s third goal, his 51st in City colours, puts him fifth on the list of our Premier League top scorers.
He’s in good company.
Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and David Silva sit ahead of him, while his goals against the Hammers saw him leapfrog Edin Dzeko, who has 50 to his name.
Ratio
Sterling’s goals have come in 132 Premier League appearances, which gives him a record of one every 2.58 games.
Goals v results
The 24-year-old is a particularly good omen and City are yet to lose a league game in which he has hit the back of the net.
Sterling has been on target in 39 matches, of which we have won 38 and drawn one.
Type of goal
Thirty-three of the forward’s strikes have came from come his favoured right foot and he’s turned 14 in on his left.
He’s converted three headers and one penalty, with the remaining goal from his tally his opener in the 3-1 win over Watford last season, when Daryl Janmaat’s saving tackle deflected off him and into the back of the net.
Match winners
Sterling has hit the decisive goal, to secure City all three points, on 14 occasions.
Single, double, treble
The England international has scored a solitary goal 30 times and a brace in six games.
His feat at West Ham was the third time he’s hit a hat-trick in the league.
The first came back in the 2015/16 season, under Manuel Pellegrini, when Sterling scored three times in the opening 45 minutes in a 5-1 defeat of Bournemouth.
He had to wait until last season to complete another in the league, when he inspired City to a 3-1 victory over Watford in March.
Continuous improvement
Sterling has improved with each passing year and his increasingly clinical nature has been a central theme of his time working under Pep Guardiola.
He scored six goals in his debut 2015/16 season and added a further seven in the following campaign.
City have won the Premier League in the two seasons since and Sterling’s goals have been instrumental to our success.
He hit 18 for Pep’s Centurions and 17 in 2018/19, which make him the Club’s second top scorer in that period, eclipsed only by one of the best in the business in Aguero.
