EPL: Sterling inspired Man City leave managerless Watford in bottom three

Watford were plunged into the relegation zone in the wake of Nigel Pearson’s surprise sacking as they were hammered by a Raheem Sterling-inspired Manchester City.

The defeat, coupled with Aston Villa’s win over Arsenal on Tuesday, means the Hornets’ battle to stay up will go to the final day of the season on Sunday, when they visit Arsenal.

Pearson became the Hornets’ third managerial casualty of the campaign on Monday, leaving Under-23 coach Hayden Mullins and his assistant Graham Stack in charge for their final two games.

And they could hardly have had a tougher first assignment than against City, who completed the double over them with this win, at an aggregate score of 12-0 – a joint top-flight record for one team against another in a single season.

Sterling took the game away from the home side before half-time, firing in a rising shot to open the scoring before doubling the advantage by following up his own saved penalty – awarded for a foul on him by Will Hughes.

Phil Foden added a third after Ben Foster had parried a Sterling shot before Aymeric Laporte nodded in from Kevin de Bruyne’s free-kick.

City’s fourth straight league win could have been even more emphatic but Gabriel Jesus had an injury-time header ruled out for offside.

This could well be important to Watford, with goal difference potentially a crucial deciding factor going into the weekend.

The defeat leaves the Hornets 18th, level on points but a goal worse off than Villa, with both three points ahead of 19th-placed Bournemouth.

Villa’s last-day opponents West Ham, on 37 points, are not yet safe from the drop, although a point from their game in hand at Manchester United on Wednesday will secure survival.

Watford down and possibly out

Pearson’s sacking came out of the blue, as the former Leicester boss was still within sight of securing Premier League survival – the remit given to him on his appointment in December.

Having taken over with the club seven points adrift at the bottom of the table, he won seven of 20 matches – results that not only lifted them out of the bottom three but also gave him the best win percentage of any Watford boss since they were promoted in 2015.

Pearson, though, is now the past and Mullins, his players and the rest of the club are left to consider a deeply worrying present and potentially devastating future.

They were outclassed by City, barely allowed a kick in what amounted to an exercise in damage limitation from the moment the visitors broke the deadlock.

They were allowed just 23.7% possession and managed just two shots at goal, neither on target. The only time they threatened in any way was when substitute Danny Welbeck got in behind the City defence but saw a tame, poked effort saved by Ederson.

That goalkeeper Foster was the Watford player who attempted the most passes (29) tells a story in itself.

So too does the fact their team pass total was a paltry 232, against the visitors’ 750. City midfielder Rodri alone made 131.

All they can do now is hope that they can better the result of Villa on Sunday when they face Arsenal.

Man City’s perfect pick-me-up

This was a wounded Manchester City, who at the weekend saw another road to a trophy blocked courtesy of that FA Cup semi-final defeat by Arsenal.

They couldn’t have asked for better opponents to get things back on track.

Watford haven’t beaten City in 18 games in all competitions – a run stretching back to March 1989, and one that includes a 6-0 loss in last season’s FA Cup final and an 8-0 thrashing in September’s reverse league fixture.

City now have a 13th straight win against the Hornets, during which the aggregate score is 50-6, and they barely seemed to get out of second gear to achieve it.

Sterling tormented the home side and De Bruyne and Foden beguiled them, while full-backs Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo operated practically as forwards.

Having got just one of their 16 shots on target against Arsenal at Wembley, they managed a much healthier ratio of 10 out of 26 at Vicarage Road.

They have accrued a league-high 21 points since the restart and scored a division-best 29 goals.

It is this form that they will hope to take into their final league fixture against Norwich on Sunday and then into the remainder of a Champions League campaign that now feels vital to provide a successful cap to their season.

Man of the match – Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

‘City do this to most teams’

Watford caretaker boss Hayden Mullin, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: “It was always going to be a tough ask, we knew that. They are a great side with a great manager. They were hurt after their result at the weekend – the Arsenal game – so we knew it would be tough.

“We set up a certain way and I thought we did well right up until the first goal. The second goal was a bit unfortunate. Will Hughes maybe gets a foot on it for the penalty, but those decisions don’t really go for you when you are at the wrong end of the table.

“City do this to most teams. The minute you come out and give space they take advantage of it. It didn’t work today for us so we look to go again.”

Man City boss Pep Guardiola, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: “A different competition, reality and opponent. But we did it today. We were so focused on ourselves so we didn’t speak much about Watford.

“We can win or we can lose, it is part of the game. In your career as a football player you can lose more games than you win. But always we must finish the game, go into the locker room and say ‘yes, I did everything to win the game’. When this happens we can be proud of ourselves.”

On Raheem Sterling: “He is quality. But the personal achievements are always related to how we have done in the Premier League. We finished far behind the champions so that is why Raheem must not be happy for the season we have done in the Premier League.”

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