Man City take top spot after comfortable win at Watford

Watford, December 5 (BNA): Champions Manchester City topped the Premier League for the first time this season, with Bernardo Silva scoring twice in a 3-1 victory over Watford.

Raheem Sterling’s early header paved the way for a comfortable victory for Pep Guardiola’s side, who took advantage of leaders Chelsea’s 3-2 defeat earlier at West Ham United.

Silva fired from a tight corner in the 31st minute and put City in cruise control after the hour when he fired a superb shot into the top corner, Reuters reported.

Indeed, City’s winning margin should have been greater against a struggling Watford side who got some hope of late when Cucho Hernandez scored.

City’s fifth consecutive win in the league raised to 35 points from 15 games, one point ahead of Liverpool and two points against Chelsea in a three-way title struggle.

The sight of Guardiola City’s side hitting the top in the lead-up to Christmas will send goosebumps to their opponents.

Once they rose to the top last season in January, they walked away, although this time Liverpool’s form suggests they won’t have all things their own way.

“It’s still the start, we haven’t even reached the halfway point and there’s a lot of hard work to do,” said Silva, City’s top scorer with seven goals.

“It’s always better to be top of the league than second, third or fourth, but that’s very close – Liverpool are only one point behind us and Chelsea are two points behind us.

“But we’re in great shape and we want to keep it that way.”

long night

Just two weeks ago, Claudio Ranieri’s side put Manchester United on Vicarage Road.

But they barely got a kick in the first half against City.

Once Sterling freed the penalty area to head Phil Foden’s cross four minutes later, it always seemed like a long night for the hosts.

Jack Grealish could have scored a hat-trick before the break as he squandered several great chances but Silva quickly showed him how to hit the net.

The Portuguese playmaker’s clever pass created an opportunity for Ilkay Gundogan who saved his shot from Daniel Bachmann but when the ball went out Silva was alert to dig a low shot into the net from an acute angle.

The second was a thing of beauty. Taking a pass from Kyle Walker on the right, Silva cut inside Danny Rose and curled a shot into the top corner with an almost careless ease.

City paused a bit to allow Hernandez to score after his shot came back off the post, but it was a slight hiccup on a totally sick day.