Riyad Mahrez has revealed he was 'quite certain' he was onside after his goal in the victory over Newcastle United was initially ruled out.
Manchester City kept their great run of form going on Sunday as they cruised to a 4-0 victory over Newcastle despite being far from their best.
Ruben Dias opened the scoring after just four minutes after capitalising on a mix up in the Magpies' defence to nod home, with Joao Cancelo's rocket from distance adding a second.
Ederson was fortunate not to give away a penalty for wiping out Ryan Fraser as Newcastle attempted to rally and get back into the game
However, City managed to keep the Toon at bay and kill off the match in the second-half as Mahrez volleyed in Aleks Zinchenko's cross to make it 3-0
The flag was immediately raised — to which Mahrez wagged his finger towards the linesman — so it looked as though the goal wouldn't stand but a VAR check revealed that the Algerian was clearly onside and the decision was reversed to hand him his 50th strike for the club.
"It's not bad, as long as it helps the team win games, that's the most important thing," Mahrez told Sky Sports on hitting the landmark.
"I was quite sure I was onside as I saw the defender running with me so I didn't think I was offside.
"Every game is a battle. It's always good to score early in the game and that's what we did. Overall it was a good game and we deserved to win."
Raheem Sterling tapped in a fourth in injury time to make it 11 goals in City's last two matches as they hit rampant form and make up the lead Liverpool had on them on goal difference.
However, Mahrez moved to downplay the significance of heavy victories.
"The numbers don't matter," he told the BBC. "We just have to win game after game, try to play good to win.
"That's the most important. The numbers, maybe at the end if you make a lot of wins, it's nice to know. The most important is just to win the next game."
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