Manchester City beat Watford to go top

BBC-Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his side had “reached their highest standard” of the season as they claimed a dominant win over Watford to move top of the Premier League for the first time in 2021-22.

The hosts were repeatedly ripped apart by City’s movement, passing and creativity and only a number of saves from goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann kept the score down to one goal in the first 30 minutes.

But City got a well-deserved second as Bachmann denied Ilkay Gundogan, but the rebound fell to Bernardo Silva, who showed excellent skill to beat two defenders and finish well from a tight angle.

Silva then grabbed his second and City’s third, cutting in from the right side of the penalty area and curling a fine finish past Bachmann.

Cucho Hernandez pulled one back for Watford, following in to convert a rebound after his first strike had hit the foot of the post.

• Watford v Manchester City as it happened, plus reaction and analysis
• Go straight to all the best Watford content
• Visit our City page

“We’re an incredibly consistent team,” said Guardiola, whose side have recorded seven consecutive wins in all competitions. “We played a really good performance and missed a lot of chances.

“The game could have been over after 10 or 15 minutes and the most important thing is we played in a consistent way that made us control the game.

“We scored three beautiful goals and could’ve scored more.”

After 15 matches, City – title winners in five of the past 10 seasons – are a point ahead of Liverpool.

Chelsea began the day as leaders, but are now a point behind the Reds in third place, after losing 3-2 to fourth-placed West Ham.

“It’s better to be at the top, but we will drop points and hopefully the opponents will as well but there is a long path ahead,” added Guardiola.

The post Manchester City beat Watford to go top appeared first on .