Raheem Sterling: Manchester City will not rest on their laurels in title race

England forward Sterling hit a perfect hat-trick as the reigning champions eased to a comfortable 4-0 win at Norwich on Saturday evening.

The victory, which also saw Phil Foden on the scoresheet, keeps up momentum for City, who have won 20 of their 25 league outings so far this season.

Sterling, though, is adamant there will be no let-up from the players as they aim for another campaign leaden with honours.

“We said last week, we go one step at a time, we knew to keep chipping away at it,” he told the club’s official website.

“Consistency and the mindset to keep wanting to do better and win. Not to rest on our laurels, and that’s the only way we will get better.

“To be a top team it’s every three days. That’s the challenge for us – to win every three days.”

Sterling opened the scoring with a fine curling effort before Foden turned home just after the interval to double the visitors’ lead.

It’s football, you’re going to get chances, you have to keep going and getting in the right areas.

Raheem Sterling

The game was ended as a contest when Sterling nodded in the third with 20 minutes to go before claiming the match ball by tapping in from close range after seeing his initial penalty saved by Angus Gunn.

“It’s football, you’re going to get chances, you have to keep going and getting in the right areas,” he added.

“Keep shooting and the goals will come. For the first goal I tried to stand him up, go slow then change the angle and put it in the back of the net in the end.”

For Norwich, the loss ends a run of five games without defeat across all competitions and leaves them in the relegation zone.

They travel to second-placed Liverpool next week and, while Billy Gilmour admits it is results against their relegation rivals which could determine their survival, the on-loan Chelsea man says the Canaries will still battle for points at Anfield.

“We are all disappointed, of course we are,” he said.

“It is something we are going to look back on and assess ahead of Liverpool and make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“You have got to try and win and take points from every game no matter who they are, but at the same time this game is not going to define our season.

“Manchester City are top of the league and we know how good they are. We need to make sure we get the points we need from the teams that are around us and then try and fight against these top teams and try and get something.”