Queen's Park Rangers travelled to Manchester in Sunday's early afternoon kick-off, with Chris Ramsey's men knowing only a win would suffice in their relegation fight. If they failed to prevail over the 2014 Premier League champions, they'd be consequently relegated - having to win all of their remaining games to stand any chance of staying up in the top flight of English football.
The early team news for the west Londoners was that Brazilian defensive midfielder Sandro was advised not to be picked in the matchday squad by the Home Office, as he has reportedly had problems with his English Visa. Former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand was still on compassionate leave following his wife's tragic loss with cancer, and Charlie Austin was leading the line in a 3-4-1-2 formation alongside Bobby Zamora with Leroy Fer playing in a central attacking midfield role behind the English striking duo.
James Milner came into the matchday squad for only his second Premier League start since the middle of February whilst Fernandinho started in a more attacking role with Fernando behind him in defensive midfield. Captain Vincent Kompany, Yaya Touré and Wilfried Bony amongst a strong-looking City bench.
Sergio Agüero broke the deadlock with his 23rd league goal within five minutes of the referee's first whistle. After an earlier opportunity was narrowly missed, the Citzens upped the intensity and the tricky Argentine weaved his way beyond the Rangers defence before chipping the ball over the head of Robert Green in the visitors' goal.
The visitors had not got into the match at all, and were lucky to only be one-nil down after 15 minutes or so. Aguero almost pounced on a defensive mistake from the QPR backline, and Green had to be even quicker to rush off his line, intercept the danger past the league's top scorer, and clear to a team-mate. Then, full-back Pablo Zabaleta galloped down the byline with the ball at his feet, swinging a teasing cross towards the box but none of his team-mates were able to latch onto it.
Aguero then fired a beautifully-weighted pass into the box for Milner to head goalwards, and a goalmouth scramble was eventually dealt with after Frank Lampard and Milner both had chances from close range to double the scoring. QPR's slim hopes of staying in the division were vanishing before their eyes, and they were being totally dominated across the Ethiad pitch.
They attempted to get back into the match, with Joey Barton's fizzing delivery into the box from the flank being headed past Joe Hart by Austin, before ironic cheers were heard around the ground as the linesman had his flag up on the far side to signal the Englishman was offside, and the score was still 1-0 to the hosts.
City almost made it two again, this time after some neat link-up play in and around the box between Silva, Lampard and Fernandinho. One-touch play set the latter through on-goal, but the final ball towards the Brazilian was a touch too heavy and he could only watch on with slight disappointment as his effort hit the side netting at the end of a fantastic move.
Silva was the orchestrator again just minutes later after an unselfish pass to him by Aguero; the silky Spaniard threaded through an inviting ball into the box towards the overlapping run made by Milner on the far side - who slammed a low ball towards the path of centre-back Eliaquim Mangala, but the finish was that of a defender's, as the Frenchman was unable to get a solid contact on the pass and he watched on with despair as the chance passed him by.
Aguero continued to threaten in the QPR half and won a free-kick for his troubles, 25 yards out after going on a jinking run towards the box. Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up to the free-kick, and with his set-piece speciality still intact, he curled a swerving effort past the wall and away from Green into the bottom corner of the net within an instant as he ran up to the dead ball with his favoured left foot.
Aguero came close to doubling his own tally in the 36th minute as he sped past the QPR backline with relative ease, before his shot goalwards was denied with a super fingertip save by Green to keep the score respectable before the half-time interval. Leroy Fer and Austin came close to halving the deficit, but neither was able to convert before the break.
As the second-half began, neither side made any changes. Agüero started the second period in the exact way he did at the start of the first-half, with a goal after just four minutes! He sped past the QPR backline on the counter attack, picked his slot from close range and slotted the ball cooly beyond Green's valiant diving effort into the bottom corner of the net.
The match was virtually over after Sergio's second, and QPR looked down and out after his opener in all fairness. Rangers made an alteration soon after they went three-nil down, with a rather ineffective Bobby Zamora being replaced by Junior Hoilett for the remainder of the match.
The Canadian forward came close to getting a goal back for Rangers, his fiercely-struck low shot from range was parried and eventually dealt with by Hart as the shot took the hosts by surprise given their total dominance. Silva was unlucky not to add his name to the City scoresheet, but Green made a great stop with his outstretched leg from close range to deny the Spanish playmaker from making it four-nil. The English goalkeeper was called into action once more soon afterwards, making a diving stop to parry away Kolarov's ambitious free-kick effort after Joey Barton's petulant foul, denying the Serbian from getting another goal on his personal tally for the day.
Queen's Park Rangers were all over the place defensively, and this was once again echoed in the 64th minute where Matthew Phillips was adjudged to blatantly stop Silva's run into the box in the area, pinning him down and pulling the Spaniard to the ground. The referee saw the incident and had no choice but to point to the penalty spot, with Sergio having a perfect opportunity to net his hat-trick. He sent Green the wrong way, firing the shot into the left-hand corner of the net with style as he wheeled away to celebrate his fifth hat-trick in the sky blue of Manchester City.
It shortly went from bad to worse for the Londoners, as Aguero turned provider and set up Milner for his seventh goal in all competitions this season, from a tap-in where he simply could not miss as QPR struggled to deal with a corner-kick. Yaya Touré replaced Fernandinho as the clock ticked down with only 15 minutes left to play, and the Ivorian came close to making the score even more embarrassing but from another solid stop from Green at his near post.
Niko Krancjar was brought into the action in place of Leroy Fer, with Jesus Navas replacing goal-scorer Milner and Shaun Wright-Phillips being subbed onto the pitch. The nail in the coffin for Rangers, was yet another goal. Silva made it 6-0 after another swift piece of link-up play around the area between himself and Bony, whose backflick sent the midfield maestro on his way to finally get his name on the scoresheet.
CONFIRMED: QPR RELEGATED FROM THE PREMIER LEAGUE. As the full-time whistle blew, City were more than pleased with the way they handled things. They dominated from the first whistle until the last, and Aguero's opener was the knockout blow for Chris Ramsey's men, with most of them seeming as though they simply didn't care whether they got relegated or not, to put up a sufficient fight. Charlie Austin and Robert Green, probably the only exceptions.
Player Ratings:
| Manchester City (6) | QPR (0) | ||
 | .jpg) |  |  |
| Hart | 7 | Green | 7.5 |
| Zabaleta | 6.5 | Caulker | 6 |
| Mangala | 8 | Hill | 5.5 |
| Demichelis | 7.5 | Dunne | 5.5 |
| Kolarov | 8.5 | Phillips | 6 |
| Fernando | 6 | Yun | 5 |
| Milner | 7.5 | Barton | 4.5 |
| Lampard | 6 | Henry | 5.5 |
| Fernandinho | 8 | Fer | 6 |
| Silva | 9.5 | Zamora | 5 |
| Aguero | 10 | Austin | 7 |
| Substitutes: | |||
| Bony | 7.5 | Hoilett | 6 |
| Touré | 6 | Krancjar | - |
| Navas | - | Wright-Phillips | - |