When Raheem Sterling’s work was finished, the crowd was on its feet to acclaim him. He had scored his 16th, 17th and 18th goals of the season, all in the space of a 13-minute blitz, and played the starring role in a victory that strengthens Manchester City’s position at the top of the Premier League. No wonder their supporters gave him such an ovation when he was substituted shortly after securing the match-ball as a souvenir.

The only surprise, perhaps, was that the person who had ordered his removal seemed a little reluctant to join in with the praise. “He can do better,” was Pep Guardiola’s verdict, repeated more than once. Sterling, according to his manager, had been a touch careless with some of his passes and not helped out enough in defence during the first half. Which was an unusual complaint given that one of the more telling statistics from the opening 45 minutes was that Watford had managed a grand total of six passes in the final third of the pitch.

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It must be hard trying to please a perfectionist but Sterling can still reflect on a satisfying day’s work and deep down Guardiola must be happy too, now his team are four points clear in the position that until recently Liverpool were occupying. This was City’s sixth league win in a row. They have all the momentum, albeit having played a game more than Liverpool, and it is difficult to imagine they will care too greatly that their latest victory, just like the previous one against West Ham, had a sizeable amount of controversy attached to it.

It was certainly another complicated day in the life of football’s offside rule bearing in mind Sterling’s first goal had initially been ruled out by a linesman’s flag. Ilkay Gündogan had chipped the ball into the penalty area, Sergio Agüero had applied the next touch and Sterling had strayed a yard or so behind the home defence. Offside? Most people would have presumed so. Not, however, the referee, Paul Tierney, who noted that Daryl Janmaat, the nearest defender, had slid in to get his toe to the ball before it ricocheted off Sterling’s left knee and looped flukily into the net.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Raheem Sterling puts Manchester City ahead after the referee and linesman decided he was not offside. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Janmaat’s involvement did not change some basic facts, namely that Sterling had been offside from Agüero’s flick-on and was going for the ball, prominently involved in play. Yet Tierney came away from a lengthy discussion with his assistant, Adrian Holmes, by deciding to overrule the original decision and declare Sterling was, in fact, onside. Confused? Well, join the club. Javi Gracia, the Watford manager, tries not to be a critic of referees and showed commendable restraint afterwards, noting only his belief it was very much the wrong decision. As for Guardiola, he pointed out that English football should have had VAR in place long before now.

Until that point City had found it surprisingly difficult to find a way through Watford’s congested defence. Indeed, the home side’s first-half display was by their standards a bit of a stinker. Yet the goal settled them down.

Sterling’s second goal came four minutes later and, after that, it was an exercise in damage limitation for Watford, whose team selection strongly indicated that Gracia was prioritising the FA Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace next weekend. Gracia made seven changes and for long spells the sum total of his team’s ambitions seemed to be to avoid the hiding they encountered against Liverpool in their previous away fixture, losing 5-0. It was little surprise, with so many alterations, that Watford went down to their 13th successive defeat against a top-six opponent, a run that stretches back to January 2017.

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City, of course, are used to coming up against opponents with limited ambitions. The trick for the reigning champions is to remain patient and wear down the opposition with the quick, incisive passing for which Guardiola’s teams are renowned. It took a while here before they found their usual routine and started to open up Watford with the kind of passing exchange that led to Sterling turning in the second goal.

Sterling might not have pleased his manager with every aspect of his play but he has a wonderful knack of popping up inside the six-yard area to make himself available in a scoring position. For a player whose starting position is on the wing with instructions to stretch the play, it makes him a highly effective attacker. Riyad Mahrez supplied the pass, having been picked out by David Silva, and Sterling was left with a relatively simple finish.

Silva was involved again when Sterling jinked into the penalty area to finish his hat-trick by clipping a shot over Ben Foster. That was the best goal of the match and, with more than half an hour to play, the home crowd might have expected their team to add some extra sheen to their goal-difference column.

Instead the league leaders were denied a fifth successive clean sheet when two of Watford’s substitutes combined for the next goal. Troy Deeney headed on Foster’s long kick and Gerard Deulofeu’s first kick of the game was to turn the ball past Ederson.