Man City...1 Chelsea....0

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MANCHESTER CITY dazzled Chelsea with some Silva service to add even more shine to their title charge.

Bernardo Silva converted a cross from namesake David seconds after half-time to help Pep Guardiola’s men take another huge step towards becoming champions.

Silva’s seventh goal of the season sent City 18 points clear at the top of the table and piled the pain on under-fire Blues boss Antonio Conte.

So the king is dead, long live the king.

Ruler

Conte arrived at the Etihad wearing the crown of a champion but his successor will take his place on the throne in a matter of weeks.

Twelve months is a long time in football. This time last season the Blues were heading towards the title themselves as Conte became the first boss to record a top-flight double over Guardiola.

Fast forward to now and Guardiola is about to replace Conte as the new ruler of English football, while the Italian clings to his job at Stamford Bridge.

Conte has now lost three away games in succession for the first time in his managerial career and his side remain five points adrift of the top four.

This had all pointed to another win for City, who came into this clash on the back of 13 successive league victories at the Etihad. The Blues, meanwhile, limped into town having lost three of their last four league games and scrambling just to secure Champions League qualification.

To make matters worse, Conte was without defensive midfielder N’Golo Kante through illness.

Cesc Fabregas was drafted in to replace him alongside Danny Drinkwater, while Pedro replaced Alvaro Morata, who dropped to the bench.

Guardiola made two changes from the side that demolished Arsenal on Thursday night, recalling defenders Oleksandr Zinchenko and Aymeric Laporte.

City dominated from the start but took a while to fashion the first chance, when Leroy Sane’s weaving run led to an opening for Bernardo Silva, but his curling effort was just too high. Conte had come for a point and they lived off scraps as City stroked the ball around with a mixture of arrogance and precision. Cesar Azpilicueta somehow blocked Sane’s shot on the line on 27 minutes as Conte’s men were proving hard to break down. But just 33 seconds into the second-half a defensive cock-up from Andreas Christensen allowed City to go ahead. His poor clearance allowed Sergio Aguero to feed David Silva, who picked out his namesake Bernardo at the back post to bundle home an untidy but effective finish. Chelsea failed to register a single shot at goal in the first-half for the first time since 2004 – and fared little better in the second.

Victor Moses wasted his side’s best chance, slicing wide from an angle before the hour mark – but the lack of ambition from the defending champions was lamentable.

Too many of Conte’s men looked disinterested, not least Eden Hazard and Pedro as City toyed with their opponents for most of the second half.

Bernardo Silva came within a whisker of making it 2-0 on 75 minutes while Aguero did his best to fashion a chance to notch his 200th goal for the club.

But in the end it didn’t matter because the result was never in doubt between rivals heading in different directions.