- Final score: Man City 5, Norwich City 0
- Goals scored: Krul o.g. (7'), Grealish (22'), Laporte (64'), Sterling (71'), Mahrez (84')
- Shots: Man City 16-1
- Possession: Man City 67%
Anyone with questions about the attitude at Man City following an Opening Day loss might be surprised at the venom with which the champions responded to those queries.
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Jack Grealish scored his first Man City goal and Gabriel Jesus set up two goals as Manchester City clobbered Norwich City 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Raheem Sterling, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez, and a Norwich own goal were the other markers in the definition of a blowout win.
City gets its first three points of the season while Norwich falls to 0-2.
Three things we learned from Man City vs Norwich City
1. Man City message sent: Five goals. Twice the passes completed of the visitors. Just under 80 percent of aerial duels won. One off-target shot conceded. This was dominance.
2. Laporte makes his case: Yes, it comes against Norwich City but Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte were a dream at the heart of Man City’s defense. Norwich City got nowhere near Ederson, who could’ve snooze on a 16-touch day. Laporte connected on well over 100 passes while missing just two, both long balls (9-of-11). Dias had an assist and missed on just five of 110.
3. Norwich’s mood will change: If last week’s 3-0 loss to Liverpool was unkind to the Canaries, this 5-0 might’ve been too nice. The absence of Emiliano Buendia’s creativity was apparent, but perhaps Daniel Farke can overlook his side’s early naivete and write this one off as a motivated Man City being too much for nearly anyone.
Man of the Match: Gabriel Jesus
The Brazilian would like everyone to know that he’s still relatively young (24), has scored a boatload of goals, and would like a regular run at center forward, please. He had two assists off of four key passes and only missed on five passes despite being a man often in the final third.
Man City vs Norwich City recap
Man City’s reaction to an opening day loss: Steamrolling a new boy.
The Premier League champions were all over Norwich City from Moment No. 1 and the Canaries did little to help their cause by continuing to play out of the back.
That led to a Ferran Torres-produced chance that Grant Hanley cleared off the back of keeper Tim Krul and into the goal, ruled as a Krul own goal.
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Torres then had the ball in the goal again, but VAR called Graham Scott to the pitchside monitor and Bernardo Silva was ajudged to have tripped Milot Rashica.
Grealish got his first goal in a Man City shirt when Gabriel Jesus’ cross bounded off the nine-figure man’s shin and crossed the line.
This was all Man City and there isn’t an argument to be made for Norwich.