Manchester City 7 - 0 Norwich City: Thoughts and Ratings

By Adam Bailey

My thoughts

A good old mauling is something City haven't seen in a while, and so Saturday's 7-0 slaying of Norwich City unsurprisingly left us fans drooling. The Blues love scoring goals against the Canaries and we locked them firmly in their cage on Saturday afternoon in a magical performance in which David Silva majestically waved his wand.

Last weekend's late loss to Chelsea left a sour taste in the mouth and an authoritative response was required from Manuel's minions who are still hoping to march towards the Premier League crown. Pellegrini went with a sizzlingly strong squad with Costel Pantillimon occupying the space between the sticks. The inclusion of the big Romanian was expected and although I'd love to comment on his performance, he hardly touched the ball!

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Match Reflection: Manchester City 7 - 0 Norwich City

City blow the Canaries out the water

By Jack Mumford

City demolished a shambolic Norwich City side by scoring seven for the first time in their Premier League history on a blustery afternoon at the Etihad Stadium. Completing 712 passes in the process, the victory never seemed in doubt for City who were dominant in every aspect.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Returning to the Etihad which has been such a fortress for the last few seasons after almost a month of away games, City’s array of attacking options just appeared to be too clever and too quick for a hapless Norwich defence.

As rumoured, Costel Pantilimon started in goal ahead of Joe Hart but as you can probably gather from the score line, anyone of the 47,066 crowd could probably have been in net for City. He was forced into one smart diving save in the first half but for the most part he was merely a spectator to the massacre like the rest of us.

Match Preview: Manchester City vs Norwich City

Hart set to be dropped for City's first home game in three weeks

By Aaron Leggott

Following a 2-0 victory against Newcastle United in the Capital One Cup, City are set to welcome Norwich City to the Etihad Stadium as Manuel Pellegrini's men prepare to play their first home game in three weeks.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

The win during midweek saw City progress to the quarter-finals of the cup - where they will play Leicester City - a performance which saw Costel Pantilimon replace a out-of-form Joe Hart in the goal. 

In Pellegrini's defence, Pantilimon was always expected to start in the league cup tie, but there is set to be a surprise as the big Romanian has been reported to be replacing Hart against Norwich to make his first Premier League start in City colours.

Blue Review: Blast from the Past

Part 1: Nedum Onuoha

By Aaron Leggott

After last week's analysis of the recent signings this summer, I decided to go for a lighthearted look at some memorable names from City's past. Every five weeks, I will look back at one name from each year, starting the first part with a name from 2010. The first edition sees me look at one of our academy's products in Nedum Onuoha. 

Match Preview: Manchester City vs Norwich

Can the Blues end the season on a good note?

By Aaron Leggott

At this point last year, both Manchester City and Norwich were in jubilant moods following a Premier League title for the Blues, whilst the Canaries recorded their highest top flight finish for 18 years. 

Both managers who led the two teams to success have now departed, albeit Paul Lambert a lot earlier than Roberto Mancini, who lost his job on Monday night following a breakdown between himself and the dressing room.

Aguero and Bassong clash in the reverse fixture, with City winning 4-3
Official MCFC Facebook

Perhaps both sides will be happy to see the back of this season now. City will be hoping for a fresh start under seemingly new manager Manuel Pellegrini, whilst Chris Hughton will be looking to build upon his mixed debut season at Carrow Road.

City Talk: No. 4

Is Carlos Tevez cashing in or chequeing out?

By Dave Walker

When it comes to football enigmas, where genius and sublime skill are compromised by flawed personal characteristics, George Best was in a class of his own.

The Irish wing wizard from the ‘Dark Side’ had it all before he washed away his career in a torrent of alcohol at the ridiculously early age of just 26.

City vs Norwich: Match Report

Tevez is getting back into the swing of things
Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images Europe

Tevez hat-trick helps keep faint title hopes alive

By Tom Smart

A Carlos Tevez hattrick helped City recapture their early season away form as the blues thrashed Norwich City 6-1 at Carrow Road to reduce Manchester United’s lead at the top to 2 points.

Title rivals Manchester United are expected to beat an Aston Villa side on Sunday evening and extend their lead at the top back to 5 points, but today the blues proved they wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The game began with the same team that started against West Brom on Wednesday minus Micah Richards who was replaced with Pablo Zabaleta at right back.

City vs Norwich: Match Preview

Can we narrow the gap at the top to just two points? 

By Aaron Leggott

After a hugely disappointing fortnight for City fans, a rainbow of hope shone across the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night after a Sergio Aguero inspired performance helped lift the Blues closer to United, who coincidentally slipped up at the DW Stadium as Wigan beat them 1-0.

City vs Norwich: Match Preview

It's been another great week to be a Manchester City fan. Not only have we secured a place in our third semi final in as many years, but we have also beaten Arsenal away from home for the first time in 27 visits - incredible stuff. 

Sitting at the top of the league, it seems the sky is the limit for us this season - apart from in Europe. However, I will look at the Champions League situation in more depth after Saturday's game. Speaking of tomorrow's encounter, I would like to welcome any Norwich City fans who are taking a look at this match preview and congratulate you on a very good start to the season. 

As every football fan probably knows, Norwich secured their second successive promotion in May and were the first team to do this since, yes, you guessed it, Manchester City. We recognised the difficulty in jumping up two tiers within as many years, and were subsequently relegated. 

However, I see something different with this Norwich side. Personally, I believe Paul Lambert has done a terrific job at Norwich and deserves all the plaudits he is getting as his transfer policy is not only unique, but it seems to be working. Instead of buying "experienced" Premier League players who are past it, he has brought in some of the best of the players from the Football League.

Players like Steve Morison, who was drafted in from Millwall in the close season, has performed magnificently in his first ever Premier League season. In fact, his five goals this season have been keeping captain Grant Holt on the substitutes bench, which is some achievement. 

Trying to remove any sort of bias though, I find it hard to see Norwich getting a positive result tomorrow. We have been nothing short of breathtaking this season and with all respect to the Canaries, greater teams have been annihilated by ourselves this season already. 

Our home form is scintillating, and we have gone almost a whole year unbeaten at home, which is a remarkable achievement. For those who don't know, our last defeat at the Etihad Stadium was against Everton on the 20th December 2010, where we succumbed to a 2-1 defeat. 

Our key player on the day though will be David Silva, and we will once again need him to be in top form if we want to be playing at our best. I am not saying in any way that we are a one-man team, but I have never seen a player like Silva in the flesh in my life - he is absolutely immense and some of the things he can do with a football ceases to amaze me. 

Norwich come into the game on the back of a good result against QPR, and you get the feeling they will give it all they have got come 3pm on Saturday. I wish them all the luck this season, as it is good to see Lambert experimenting with the best of the football league, but I can't see them holding us to a result!

Prediction: 3-0 

Predicted lineup: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Yaya Toure, Barry, Milner, Silva, Johnson, Balotelli

What do you think of my prediction? Leave your comments below!