Manchester City 5 Crystal Palace 0: David Silva, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi secure win

MANCHESTER CITY took a huge step towards securing a top four spot with a comprehensive 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Goals from David Silva, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi sealed the points for Pep Guardiola's men.

Spaniard Silva got the afternoon off to a fine start inside two minutes, drilling home from 12 yards after Martin Kelly's poor clearance.

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City continued to dominate but had to wait until after the restart to double their advantage.

Centre-half Kompany showed all the composure of a seasoned striker as clinically finished into the top corner from De Bruyne's lay-off.

Belgian De Bruyne then added then third with a smart finish from 20 yards.

Sterling put the icing on the cake in the final ten minutes when he slotted home from Pablo Zabaleta knockdown.

And Nicolas Otamendi headed home a fifth in the dying seconds to round up the scoring.

FACTS, STATS, GOALS AND LOLS

• City were favourites to win this one - yet Palace had got more points over their previous 10 league games than Pep Guardiola's men.
• The 18 man squad chosen by Guardiola contained six players who are out of contract this summer. There are going to be big changes in the close seaosn.

Guardiola had suggested it would be difficult for David Silva to play after only just returning to training from a knee injury week. What a bonus that the little Spaniard started.

• Silva' s goal inside the first two minutes was City's fastest in the Premier League in over two years - since February 2015.
• Vincent Kompany's goal was a special one for him - but also significant in the top four. It put City into third - above Liverpool on goal difference.
• The battle to finish third is also significant as it means automatic qualification for the Champions League - City had to go through a qualifier earlier this season.
• Kompany now has two goals in his last four Premier League games - as many as he got in his previous 43.
• The Belgian suffered a bad injury against the Eagles in November - and also made his comeback in the FA Cup tie at Selhurst Park in January.
  

• This defeat means Palace faced a tense return trip to London with their Premier League status still not secure. They were left hoping for slips from Hull and Swansea later in the day.
• The assist by Gabriel Jesus for City's third means he has now been directly involved in six goals in just six Premier League appearances. Four goals and two assists.
• Guardiola will fully expect his team to clinch their top four place now. Their last three games - Leicester, West Brom and Watford - are all teams who are pretty much on the beach.

BIG PICTURE

DREAM TEAM RATINGS

Manchester City: Caballero 7, Fernandinho 8, Kompany 8, Otamendi 8, Clichy 7, Toure 8, Sane 7 (Navas 84), De Bruyne 10, Silva 8 (Zabaleta 68, 7), Sterling 8, Jesus 8 (Iheanacho 84)

Subs not used: Sagna, Fernando, Kolarov, Gunn

Crystal Palace: Hennessey 6, Ward 5, Kelly 4 (Delaney 76, 5), Schlupp 5, Van Aanholt 6, McArthur 5, Milivojevic 6 (Flamini 67, 5), Puncheon 3, Zaha 6, Benteke 6, Townsend (Lee Chung-yong 57, 5)

Subs not used: Speroni, Remy, Campbell, Sako
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN: Kevin De Bruyne

SOCIAL SAYS

THEY SAID

Man City captain Vincent Kompany, speaking to Sky Sports: “It was only 1-0 after the first half so it wasn't an easy. We kept shooting and kept trying and we forced it to go our way. We needed that.

"It depends if you talk about emotions. The one against Man United will always be best. You close your eyes and swing. I was pleased with the second half. We scored a lot and got the clean sheet.

"We wanted to set this chain of home games right and it couldn't have gone better. We need to repeat the performance in the next games."

Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce told Sky Sports: "The recovery from the goal was good indeed. It could have been 1-1.

"All five goals were avoidable. We didn't make them produce their brilliant talent, we gifted them five goals. They punished us heavily.

"I didn't feel the lads were comfortable in the back five as they would have done with a back four. When we switched, we got better going forward. But our final third play let us down as well as our defensive display. We deserved to get punished."