Sterling converted two headers, one of which was slightly fortuitous, having opened his account with a precise 20-yard effort and has now scored a career best 27 goals this campaign to leave him four shy of a century for the Club.
Only Sergio Aguero has scored more in the Premier League for City.
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The 25-year old has flourished in front of goal since Guardiola arrived, but the manager says it is the player who deserves all the credit as he praised his hard work and desire.
“He knows exactly what he has to do,” the boss said at his post-match press conference.
“He is a huge competitor. Self-confident, aggressive. He loves to score goals. We have wingers who score goals. This is so important.
“All the credit is for him,” Pep added.
“Not just for the three goals, but they are important for what we have ahead of us.
“For his development as a player, because he wants to improve. We are delighted with his performance today.”
City’s focus now moves to the midweek home game against Bournemouth, before next weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal.
Guardiola has regularly rotated his squad since the Premier League restarted, making several changes for each game and he intends to do so again when the Cherries visit the Etihad Stadium,
However, he says his selection will not be influenced by the Wembley showdown with the Gunners three days later.
“No,” he said, when asked if it will affect his decision on Wednesday.
“We played one team against Newcastle, today another one. A new four or five or six players will play against Bournemouth.
“Against Arsenal I will select what is best for the team.”
