Manchester City soared above the fog swirling round the Etihad Stadium to demolish Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 and leave the rest of the Premier League peering into the distance in search of Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking team on Saturday.
Tottenham, who began the day fourth, were supposed to provide a proper test but, just like City’s previous 15 opponents, were outclassed as goals by Ilkay Gundogan before halftime and Kevin de Bruyne and two from Raheem Sterling after it put City 14 points clear.
City’s 16th successive win took them to 52 points, one game short of the halfway point of the season, says a Reuters report.
Manchester United, who play at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, have 38 as do champions Chelsea who beat Southampton 1-0 on Saturday thanks to Marcos Alonso’s free kick.
Arsenal sent Newcastle United into the drop zone with a 1-0 win that lifted the Gunners to fourth with 33 points while Burnley are fifth, a further point back, after a 0-0 draw at Brighton and Hove Albion for whom Glenn Murray missed a penalty.
Tottenham tumbled down to seventh behind Liverpool, who are at Bournemouth on Sunday, on goal difference.
There were two big movers at the bottom with Crystal Palace winning 3-0 at Leicester City and West Ham United doing the same at Stoke City to move out of the relegation zone into 14th and 15th places respectively. Stoke are 17th.
Even without the absent David Silva, City were too clinical for Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham side and could even afford a second-half penalty miss from Gabriel Jesus.
“It was solid, good, against one team demanding to be intense without the ball,” Guardiola said.
“Since August we are so happy and I admire the most the way we play without the ball -- thank you to the club to provide me with these amazing players.”
