Stoke City 0-3 Norwich City: Canaries boost Championship play-off hopes and pile pressure on Potters

Gabriel Sara scored his 10th Championship goal of the season at Stoke City

Norwich comfortably beat relegation-threatened Stoke at the bet365 Stadium to boost their Championship play-off chances.

Kenny McLean and Borja Sainz linked up to play in Josh Sargent to score his eighth goal in his past nine appearances and give the Canaries the lead.

And the pair combined again to set up Gabriel Sara's 10th league goal of the season four minutes later before Ashley Barnes swept home his side's third on the hour mark.

Norwich remain sixth in the table, three points clear of seventh-placed Hull while Stoke sit just two points clear of the relegation places in 19th, with eight games remaining.

The away side dominated from the first whistle and could have led through early chances for Sainz and Barnes.

Potters wing-back Ki-Jana almost lit up the stadium with a delightful solo goal, running from his own half and beating Sam McCallum and Ben Gibson before crashing his effort against the post.

Yet City made the breakthrough on 24 minutes as they caught Stoke high up the pitch, with McLean threading the ball through to Sainz who drove forward and squared the ball for Sargent to roll the ball into an empty net.

Sargent almost doubled his tally minutes later, but Stoke goalkeeper Daniel Iversen made a great save down to his right, however the Canaries had their second in their next attack moments later.

With the home side clearly rocked from conceding, the dominant McLean's pass split the lines again for Sainz to run in behind before finding Sara to score his 10th league goal of the season.

Stoke missed a massive opportunity to halve the deficit when captain Josh Laurent headed Lewis Baker's corner over from six yards out before half-time.

And Barnes sealed the points in the second half as he swept home the rebound following McLean's blocked shot from Sara's corner.

Iversen spared further Stoke blushes as he kept out Sara's curling shot from distance and another effort from Sargent as the visitors threatened to run riot.

Stoke boss Steven Schumacher told BBC Radio Stoke: "I thought Norwich were the better team in every department, more aggressive with the ball and played with more quality.

"We were off it, way below the standards that we played at the last week and got the result out of it that we deserved.

"It was too easy for them to play. We were a bit too deep as a team and didn't get close enough - it took us 78 minutes to win a tackle.

"If you can't do the basics well enough you're not going to win games."

Norwich boss David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I think it was another very good away performance.

"We put the game to bed at the latest in the second half; very focused, very sharp defensively, counter-press was top class and offensively we scored some wonderful goals and had chances for more.

"The players are in a very good mood, very confident at the minute, and they really enjoy to play football together and I think it was a totally deserved result."