ENGLAND star Raheem Sterling bagged a stunning first-half hat-trick as Cherries slumped to a 5-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.

Sterling, City’s £49m man, handed Manuel Pellegrini’s side the lead inside eight minutes in Manchester, before Wilfried Bony made it 2-0 with only 11 minutes on the clock.

And although Glenn Murray reduced the arrears with a well-taken effort, Sterling’s second and third goals before the break and a late fifth from Bony ensured a painful afternoon for Eddie Howe’s men.

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Howe made two changes to the side that lined up against Watford prior to the international break, with Adam Smith coming in for Marc Pugh and Eunan O’Kane replacing Joshua King, while the Cherries boss was also forced into a late goalkeeping change after Artur Boruc failed to appear after the warm-up. Adam Federici took his place.

For City, international injury victims Sergio Aguero and David Silva missed out as expected, although Vincent Kompany made the bench having played 58 minutes for Belgium against Israel on Tuesday.

Cherries started brightly, with some neat inter-play between Simon Francis and Adam Smith a highlight of their early endeavours. At the other end, Sterling failed to find Bony with the striker well-placed.

Moments later though, City took the lead. Pablo Zabaleta’s header back across goal from Fernandinho’s cross was poked forward by Bony into the path of Sterling who prodded home. Cherries were incandescent, claiming Sterling was offside but the goal stood.

Five minutes later, it was 2-0. This time the cross came from the left via Bacary Sagna and Federici could only parry into the path of Bony who slotted home from inside the six-yard box. This time, there were no protests and Cherries were left with a mountain to climb.

Charlie Daniels defended well under pressure from Sterling on 17 minutes as the England man looked to play in Bony once more, while Federici made up for his earlier error when pushing Kevin De Bruyne’s thunderous 18th-minute shot round the post.

Moments later, Sterling almost got on the end of an astonishing through ball from Yaya Toure. City were as majestic as they were potent. But Murray gave Cherries hope on 21 minutes.

The former Crystal Palace man ghosted unchallenged towards the City penalty area having been played in by O’Kane, before driving low and hard past Joe Hart. For all of City’s prowess going forward, the way they switched off as Murray shaped to shoot would have been a worrying sign for Pellegrini. It proved to be a momentary blip, however, and the City boss’s concerns were eased just before the half-hour mark though when Sterling grabbed his second of the game. It was a wonderful goal.

Sterling beat the offside trap to latch on to de Bruyne’s through ball before putting both Steve Cook and Sylvain Distin on their backsides and slotting past Federici.

It should have been 4-1 on the stroke of half-time. Jesus Navas squared to Sterling who did likewise to De Bruyne before the Belgian’s curling shot was beaten on to the crossbar by Federici. Cherries couldn’t hold on, however, and Sterling completed his hat-trick seconds later.

Navas burst clear and rounded Federici but delayed his shot allowing the Australian to rise to his feet and block. Sterling, though, was on to the rebound and made no mistake from six yards.

City continued their dominance after the break, Federici beating away Zabaleta’s fearsome shot from the inside right channel, before Murray fired wide at the other end on 56 minutes.

Bony should have scored his second on 57 minutes but his weak effort from inside the penalty area was easily gathered by Federici. Sterling was denied by the side netting just after the hour mark, before prodding narrowly wide minutes later.

As the clock ticked down on a miserable afternoon for Howe’s men, substitute Joshua King was denied by some latch-ditch defending from Eliaquim Mangala as the striker looked to get on the end of Daniels’s cross from the left, before Bony added his second from close range a minute from time to complete the scoring.

City: (4-2-3-1) Hart; Zabaleta, Otamendi, Mangala, Sagna; Fernandinho, Toure (Fernando, h-t); Navas, De Bruyne (Nasri, 62), Sterling (Iheanacho, 77); Bony.

Unused subs: Demichelis, Kompany, Roberts, Caballero (g/k).

Booked: Sagna, Otamendi.

Cherries: (4-1-4-1) Federici; Francis, Distin, Cook, Daniels; Surman; Smith (Pugh, 78), Gosling, O’Kane (MacDonald, 65), Ritchie; Murray (King, 74).

Unused subs: Cargill, Bennett, Kermorgant, Tomlin.

Booked: Ritchie.

Referee: Mike Dean.

Attendance: 54,502.