Swansea City were 22-1 to win this two-horse race with the bookmakers, but those odds flattered them on the evidence of this humbling. They were lucky to finish second such was the superiority of the Premier League champions.
Indeed, the only tangible positive to take from this meek, yet rather predictable display was that they continue to hold a four-point advantage over the sides in the bottom three after Stoke’s draw with Burnley.
Indeed, it may turn out to be the failings of others that keeps Swansea City in the top-flight.
The task for Carlos Carvalhal is to make sure this sobering result and performance - which he insists will have no impact on the final four-game run-in - does not serve up collateral damage to morale and belief at a time when Swansea cannot afford to be without those commodities.
It should be put into context that they were facing the champions in their own backyard, a side who have dispatched teams at the foot and summit of the top-flight table with similar levels of disdain.
This season they’ve put seven past Stoke, six past Watford and five past Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Leicester, even Tottenham have shipped four against Pep Guardiola’s men.
That Swansea are among that number - this equalled their worst defeats in the Premier League - will not have come as a major surprise.
There is good reason they are 17th in the table and that City are masters of all they survey from their lofty perch.
Add in the sheer resources of the Etihad Stadium outfit and it looks even more uneven. These clubs may occupy the same division, for now at least, but there the similarities end.
City - owned by a member of the Dubai ruling family - have spent £448million on players since Guardiola’s arrival less than two years ago. Their squad is valued at £777million.
Swansea have not spent £448million on players total in their seven years in the top-flight. Those sort of differentials inevitably create a gulf in the quality of players with which teams operate.
Swansea had lost on all six previous visits here, and Guardiola has never suffered back-to-back home league defeats. It all pointed one way.
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Yet the sad thing is that not so long ago Swansea would still have approached such fixtures with a mindset that they would look to cause problems and put some sort of stamp on proceedings.
It was there as recently as when they beat Arsenal at the Liberty in January, but away from home it has become less obvious.
Here, as against Manchester United a few weeks ago, the outcome was decided inside the opening minutes, the question was only how many Swansea would concede.
In that sense it was similar to the 4-0 reverse against City at the Liberty Stadium in December, and that sort of timidity - especially away from home - is a mindset that Swansea have to change whatever division they end up playing in next season.
Pragmatism has its place, but the nagging feeling here, as there was at Anfield in December, was that there was a resignation to defeat and it was reflected in a dreadfully passive opening that contradicted Carvalhal’s regular statements that he sends his team out to win games, not draw or lose.
That is not to take a pot-shot at the Portuguese, he has done a fine job since coming in and he remains on track to keep them in the top-flight, a prospect that looked highly unlikely when he arrived. The players have also played their part in that, lest we forget.
And the factors leading to performances of this nature were in place prior to his appointment but, even so, at times it worryingly felt like a game being treated as a fixture to be fulfilled before moving on to the crunch of the final run-in.
Carvalhal would have known attempting to take City on at their own game would also have ended in heavy defeat.
It’s the football equivalent of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
But Swansea never nailed their colours to the mast one way or the other. Instead the game just washed over them, at times they felt like bystanders. Meat in the room at a party.
They were the only one of the two sides with something to play for, with something to fight for, but they never threatened to ask City just how much they were up for the scrap with the Premier League trophy in the bag.
There were no strong challenges, no flare-ups, no aggression. All conspicuous by their absence.
Despite his continued positivity, Carvalhal would surely have expected more in terms of application, had it not been for Lukasz Fabianski this could conceivably have been double figures.
Amidst a party atmosphere it was one-way traffic throughout. City had 90 per cent of possession in the opening 20 minutes. They would end the afternoon having attempted 1,015 passes, the most since those stats started being collated during the 2003-04.
The first goal came in the 11th minute. Kevin De Bruyne sent a delicious pass in behind Mike van der Hoorn, and David Silva beat the Dutchman to the inside pass to volley home.
Five minutes later and Silva turned provider, exchanging passes with Delph for Sterling to tap home.
A long afternoon lay ahead, and Fabianski brilliantly denied De Bruyne after Martin Olsson had been robbed on the edge of his own area.
The Sweden international would soon be booked for a foolhardy dive against Danilo.
Alfie Mawson did at least raise ironic cheers from the away support with one driving run and shot that was well-held by Ederson.
But one-way traffic quickly resumed after the break and Fabianski was beaten by a De Bruyne thunderbolt after Tom Carroll’s pass to Andre Ayew was picked off.
It got worse, Kyle Naughton’s poor pass sent Sterling forward again, Federico Fernandez rashly dived in and Craig Pawson pointed to the spot.
Fabianski tipped Jesus’ penalty onto the post, but no Swansea player reacted and Bernardo Silva tapped in.
To add to the misery Fernandez picked up a worrying thigh injury and was forced off, before Jesus raced in behind Mawson to head home a lovely Silva pass.
The home fans invaded the pitch moments later as the whistle went, Swansea City left to lick their wounds and ready themselves for a nerve-jangling few weeks.
