Pep Guardiola‘s side made the best possible start, taking the lead after just five minutes through Ruben Dias, who headed in from Joao Cancelo’s flick into the box.
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Cancelo turned from provider to scorer shortly after, expertly dribbling through two challenges and firing into the top corner from 20 yards.
Mahrez made it three with a superb volley before Raheem Sterling tapped in a fourth to put the cherry on top of a fine victory.
Mahrez feels City were deserved victors. He said:
“Every game is a battle. It’s always good to score early in the game and that’s what we did. Overall it was a good game and we deserved to win.
“We had a very good second half. The first half wasn’t very good but we still scored two goals and stayed solid, but the second half we played so good and deserved to score even more goals to get the win.
“We never gave them an opportunity, but I think it was still a tough battle. They were very aggressive.
“It wasn’t an easy game, obviously when you score two quick goals you make it easy for yourself.”
The winger’s controlled volley marked his 50th goal since joining City in the summer of 2018, a record that he feels is only worth noting if it helps the team to win matches.
“It’s not bad, as long as it helps the team win games, that’s the most important thing,” he said.
“I was quite sure I was onside as I saw the defender running with me so I didn’t think I was offside.
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“The numbers don’t matter. We just have to win game after game, try to play good to win. That’s the most important.
“The numbers, maybe at the end if you make a lot of wins, it’s nice to know. The most important is just to win the next game.”
