Manchester City thrash Watford, climb on top of Premier League

Bernardo Silva scored twice as Manchester City on Saturday thrashed an hapless Watford to go on top of the English Premier League for the first time this season. Pep Guardiola’s men won 3-1. 

Silva was hailed as the best Premier League player ahead of the match by his club coach and teammate Ederson. The Portuguese lived up to the tag against Watford with a brilliant finish in the 31st minute and effortless curl in the 63rd. City took full advantage of Chelsea’s loss earlier in the day to take top spot in a tight three-way title race.

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Talking to Sky Sports, Silva said,” It was a very good job in the first half especially. We created chances and didn’t allow them to counter-attack. We scored two but should have scored more. At 3-0 we tried to control the game, but the last few minutes were not as good. We’re very happy, top of the league. It’s always better to be top than second or third or fourth, but it’s still the beginning, not even halfway through, and it’s so close. Lots of games to play, though it’s better to be in our position. It’s going to be tough for us and for Liverpool and Chelsea. It’s the most competitive league in the world, and we will do our best. At the end of the season we want to celebrate some titles.”

City is one point ahead of Liverpool and two in front of Chelsea after winning its last five league games.

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Raheem Sterling put City ahead in just the fourth minute. The defending champions dominated the first half, with 81% possession, and could have added more goals. 

Watford pulled one back through Cucho Hernandez, who followed up his own shot after it rebounded off a post, to deny Pep Guardiola’s side a ninth clean sheet of the season.

With inputs from the Associated Press