Manchester City tightened their grip on the Premier League title race with an emphatic 4-0 win over Aston Villa on Wednesday as Edin Dzeko scored twice to leave them needing just a point from the final game of the season.
Dzeko´s double midway through the second half relieved the pressure that had gripped the Etihad stadium and late strikes by Stevan Jovetic and Yaya Toure, his 20th of the season, secured a comfortable victory.
City, who brought up 100 league goals for the campaign, realistically need just a point from Sunday´s visit of West Ham United to win their second league title in three years.
Manuel Pellegrini´s side moved two points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table but, with a superior goal difference of 13 over their title rivals, a draw would be enough for City to be crowned champions.
At the other end of the standings, Sunderland guaranteed their Premier League survival when goals by Jack Colback and Fabio Borini sealed a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion which effectively ended Norwich City´s hopes of remaining in the top flight.
With Sunderland moving to 38 points and West Brom one place above the relegation zone on 36, Norwich are three points further adrift with a vastly inferior goal difference.
Within seconds of the kickoff at the Etihad Stadium, it became apparent that Villa would look to stifle and frustrate rather than go toe-to-toe with their talent-packed opponents.
With all 11 men consistently withdrawn behind the ball, the visitors set out to catch City on the break, but they rarely made it out of their own half as the title challengers launched wave after wave of attacks.
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