Jack Grealish may have stolen the limelight with his first goal for Manchester City since his record 100 million pounds move from Aston Villa but Gabriel Jesus offered a timely reminder of what he can offer manager Pep Guardiola.
The Brazilian was given a right-sided role by Guardiola and produced a man-of-the-match display with three assists.
Jesus, who joined in 2017, was marginalised last season and there has been talk of a move away from The Etihad Stadium.
But given the nod by Guardiola on Saturday, he caused havoc for the Norwich defence who simply could not get near him.
His low cross in the seventh minute led to Grant Hanley’s clearance going in off keeper Tim Krul and in the 22nd minute he teed up Grealish for his first City goal.
Jesus then put one on a plate for subsitute Raheem Sterling in the second half as City ran riot.
“He’s a player who likes to be wider than central position,” Guardiola, whose champions rebounded from their opening day defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, told reporters.
“One of the reasons why I’m a manager is when you can work with people and humans like Gabriel.
“He never complains, he plays five minutes, he plays the best five minutes he can do.”
With Grealish on the left and Jesus on the right, Ferran Torres in a central role and Bernardo Silva and Rodri pulling the strings behind, City dominated from the first minute.
With Sterling and Riyad Mahrez coming off the bench and Kevin de Bruyne not even involved it was the perfect illustration of City’s incredible attacking depth even if they do not end up signing Harry Kane.
And with Jesus showing that he still has a big part to play, no wonder Guardiola looked contented at full time.
“He’s happy on left, right or centre and today the connection with Kyle (Walker) was exceptional,” Guardiola said of Jesus. I’m pleased with his performance; he was involved in three of our goals and is an incredibly important player for us.
“When someone plays like this they deserve to play.”