Sterling's hat-trick moves City nine clear as Utd again let lead slip

London: Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points above Liverpool, as Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick in their 4-0 win away to struggling Norwich City.

Sterling put his side ahead in the 31st minute and Phil Foden netted early in the second half to put Pep Guardiola's side out of reach of a rival that worked hard, but suffered from a gulf in class.

Sterling then rounded off the win with goals in the 71st and 90th minutes to pressure Liverpool ahead of their visit to Burnley on Sunday, Xinhua reports. Manchester United missed a chance to move into fourth place after being held 1-1 at home to Southampton.

Che Adams's goal early in the second half cancelled out Jadon Sancho's first Premier League goal in front of his home fans, and although Harry Maguire almost won it at the end for United, Southampton had plenty of chances of their own to take all three points.

Everton won their first Premier League game under Frank Lampard and will breathe a lot easier after goals from Seamus Coleman, Michael Keane and Anthony Gordon gave them a 3-0 win at home to Leeds United.

Coleman and Keane had put Everton 2-0 up by the 27th minute and the result leaves Everton five points above the bottom three, with Leeds just a point above them.