Hat-trick man Silva hails Man City's sublime performance in 8-0 thrashing of hapless Watford; cuts Liverpool's lead to two points atop EPL table
Man City's Bernardo Silva (centre) shoots to score his team's sixth goal against Watford during an EPL tie at Manchester on Saturday. Pic /AFP
Manchester: Bernardo Silva admitted Manchester City's "unbelievable" 8-0 thrashing of Watford was motivated by a desire to erase the bitter taste of their shock defeat against Norwich. City recorded their biggest ever top-flight victory thanks to Bernardo's hat-trick and goals for Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Nicolas Otamendi, Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne at a jubilant Etihad Stadium. It was the perfect response from Pep Guardiola's side after their shock 3-2 loss against Norwich last weekend. That defeat has given the initiative to leaders Liverpool in the title race and Portugal playmaker Bernardo revealed City were desperate to make amends.
City in control
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"We were unbelievable in the first 30 minutes, scored lots of goals and had control. After the Norwich defeat, it was great to give our fans the result and the performance," Bernardo said. "We aimed to keep it going in the second half. We didn't want them to hurt us or score past us. Football is a hard game — I've won 8-0 today but I've lost plenty of times by five or four goals. It was a great performance, 8-0 says everything. It's very good to get the three points after defeat at Norwich and I'm very happy with my first hat-trick of my career. My first match ball at home."
City are now two points behind Liverpool, but Jurgen Klopp's side can reopen a five-point lead if they win at Chelsea on Sunday. "All teams have good and bad moments, the way you react to the bad is the most important thing. Once again this team showed we want to fight for the Premier League and all the titles," he said.
Leicester stun Tottenham 2-1
Meanwhile, Tottenham's long wait for an away win in the EPL continued as Leicester came from behind to beat last season's Champions League finalists 2-1 on Saturday. Harry Kane handed Spurs a first-half lead and Mauricio Pochettino's men thought they had doubled that advantage when Serge Aurier fired home. However, the goal was ruled out by the finest of margins for offside after a VAR review and Leicester compounded Spurs' pain by equalising two minutes later through Ricardo Pereira. James Maddison's long-range strike five minutes from time then capped Leicester's comeback.
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