Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling, who netted a hat-trick in his team’s emphatic victory against Brighton in Premier League, said he was pleased to be have hit his goal-scoring form immediately after the resumption of England’s top-flight football following the COVID-19 hiatus.

“It’s good to be back, being in lockdown that was the only thing I was thinking about; having that scoring feeling again and to start a good run,” Sterling said as quoted on the official website of Manchester City.

“We’ve been a bit disappointed this season with some of the games we’ve had because we’ve had chances.

“(But) it was another game where we took them and when we take our chances we’re frightening,” he added.

It was a collective effort from City that resulted in their goal fest at the empty AmEx Stadium. And Sterling believes that the whole squad being involved in the action is paying dividends.

“That’s always something great to have in the team. You don’t want players to be comfortable, you want players on their toes,” he reflected.

“And that’s credit to the manager. He keeps everyone on their toes and players have to work for their position and work to have their place in the starting eleven,” the England international explained.

City have now won two back-to-back matches with a margin of five goals. They would look to continue with his dominating form especially when European action is set to resume in August.

After losing out the Premier League title to Liverpool this season and the threat of missing European football next season looming large, winning the Champions League will be a perfect statement for the Blues of Manchester.

Sterling, meanwhile, has echoed that same and said that the players were not going to lose their intensity after Premier League gets over and hinted that they were targeting the FA Cup and the Champions League.

“We know we have to get back up to scratch and get into form because we have an important run in to the end of the season and we know we’ve got some massive games coming up.

“We just need to continue, finish the Premier League strong and hopefully finish in a few more competitions,” Sterling added.