Manchester City returned to form in style on Saturday and nearly tied a Premier League record in a 5-0 hammering from Norwich City.
It was a typically dominant display for Pep Guardiola’s side, who had 16 attempts compared to that of Norwich and had 66.9% of possession.
Tim Krul’s goal after seven minutes opened the floodgates, before the inadvertent arrival of Jack Grealish saw the £ 100million signing open his City account.
Aymeric Laporte made it even more comfortable, before Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez rounded off the victory.
Much like Guardiola, City attempted 730 passes, completing 684 – an accuracy of 93.7 percent.
This is the second highest passing accuracy Opta has ever recorded in a Premier League game since 2003-04, the highest being 94.2%, set by City in a 4-3 win over Newcastle United in May.
Ruben Dias attempted (114) the most passes, while his center partner Laporte completed the most (111).
Gabriel Jesus, who provided two assists, led the way in terms of chances created, with three, while Grealish was tied with Ilkay Gundogan for crosses in open play (four).
The former Aston Villa star attempted 43 passes, completing 41 (95.3%), including 40 in the Norwich half.
City have ended a three-game losing streak in competitive games without scoring since last season, and Guardiola said it was just a reward for the work done by their champions.
“This result is the consequence of the number of good things we have done,” said Guardiola.
“We are still not at the top, there is still a lot to do. We practiced, we refreshed ourselves and I’m happy with these first points … I hope they won’t be the last!
