Nigerian international, Kelechi Iheanacho, starred as Manchester City thrashed Crystal Palace 5-0 to climb up to third place on the Premier League table on Saturday.
Iheanacho, who has since missed action, replaced Gabriel Jesus in the 84th minute of the tie.
City were unfortunate to only hold a one-goal lead at the break following David Silva’s early opener, but second-half strikes from Vincent Kompany, Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi saw Pep Guardiola’s side cruise to victory and boost their top-four hopes in the process.
Palace went into the match having amassed more points than City over their previous 10 games, but the hosts quickly fell into their stride and took the lead within two minutes when Silva stroked a first-time finish home from inside the box after Martin Kelly failed to get enough on his clearance.
It was the Spaniard’s 50th goal for Man City, and he was heavily involved throughout a dominant first-half performance from the home side as they took complete control of the contest.
Palace would have been pleased to make it into half time with only a one-goal deficit, but their hopes of stealing anything from the game took a major blow shortly after the interval as City made as quick a start to the second half as they had in the first.
Palace goalkeeper Hennessey should have done better when the third goal eventually arrived, though, with De Bruyne passing the ball into the back of the net from outside the area despite Hennessey getting a hand to it.
Sane deserved a goal for his performance but miscued a decent opening shortly afterwards, and it was the winger on the opposite flank who got City’s fourth as Sterling fired a bobbling ball into the bottom corner after being found by Pablo Zabaleta’s knockdown.
City added a fifth for good measure with the last meaningful action of the match as Otamendi took advantage of some statuesque defending to latch on to De Bruyne’s free kick and plant a firm diving header past Hennessey.
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