THE SILVA MACHINE ROLLS ON...

Bernardo puts City on top as Hornets fail to quiet Pep’s buzz

AFTER their main title rivals had spluttered and struggled earlier in the day, Manchester City were never going to make the same mistake.

Not against a Watford side they had beaten 13 times in a row, blitzing an astonishing 50 goals in the process.

It took four minutes to break the deadlock last night through Raheem Sterling, and when Bernardo Silva doubled the lead on the half-hour mark, it was game, set and match.

OK, so another tennis scoreline – as Watford boss Claudio Ranieri had likened the hosts’ recent hammerings by City – failed to materialise.

However, there was no stopping City going top of the table as Silva’s secondhalf scorcher wrapped up a sixth league win on the bounce before Cucho Hernandez’s late consolation for the Hornets.

Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham had opened the door at the summit and Pep Guardiola’s men had positively stormed through it.

They lead Liverpool, who needed a last-gasp effort to beat Wolves, by a point.

This was the second of NINE outings in December for the English champions bidding for a fourth title in five years. No time to moan, though. At least City’s fixture list looks relatively kind. Leeds, Newcastle, Leicester and Brentford follow before the turn of the year.

Yet lowly positions in the table are deceptive, as Watford have been demonstrating under their legendary Italian coach.

In the Hornets’ 2-1 midweek loss here to Chelsea, they had more shots than their opponents – both on and off target.

They had also brought the visitors’ physio on “20 times” according to Thomas Tuchel.

Which was the last thing Guardiola wanted to hear as he tries to steer his depleted group through a chock-a-block month.

The good news on that front was that several of those missing recently were back yesterday – with England pair Jack Grealish and Phil Foden among five Guardiola changes.

Grealish was included for the first time since early November and as the £100million most-expensive British buy was always going to be in for some serious stick. The Vicarage Road crowd of Ran thump two wi

But Lions spotlig night.

Havi far fro earlier no rep

They Foden’ by Ster

It sh unmar corne

have been pumped by the arrival

ieri, despite a couple of heavy ings in his nine games and only ns. it was Foden and fellow Three

ace Sterling who stole the ht in a blistering opening last

ng seen their title rivals have it m their own way in their games

in the afternoon, there was to be eat from City.

were a goal up early doors, with s superb cross fired in first-time

ling. ould have been 2-0 soon after as

ked Grealish headed Foden’s r straight at keeper Daniel

Bachmann. And after 10 minutes Grealish was denied again by the busy Hornets stopper as he blocked the playmaker’s close range drive.

It wasn’t total one-way traffic – a fact underlined by the hosts in-form striker Emmanuel Dennis when, having cut inside, he forced Ederson to save at his near post.

If that livened up the contest, Dennis’ deflected free-kick on the half hour, which Ederson scrambled to safety, injected genuine belief in the stands.

That lasted all of 30 seconds, though, as City went up the other end and silenced the crowd through Silva’s classy, sneaky angled finish.

The second half was a rather more even affair as City, no doubt with one eye on the games ahead, eased up.

But not before Silva had demonstrated he is at the peak of his power’s with another stunning strike.

Nipping in from the right flank, he took and curled an absolute peach of a left-foot effort into the far corner. Pure unadulterated genius.

Watford, to their credit, refused to collapse and go quietly.

That spirit was rewarded with a reply from sub

Hernandez, who reacted first to Ederson’s parry with 16 minutes left on the clock.