David Silva the saviour as Man City equal 13-win record

Man City 2 West Ham 1: David Silva may have lost some of the headline space hoovered up by the likes of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne this season but in the 83rd minute of this largely uninspiring victory, he showed why he is arguably still the man who makes Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City tick.

The Spaniard arrived, diving and twisting at full-stretch to steer a brilliant late finish from De Bruyne’s cross past West Ham keeper Adrian and into the net. That brought City a 13th consecutive Premier League victory, equal with the best-ever single-season mark set jointly by Chelsea last season and Arsenal in 2001-02, and means that a win in Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford will not only open up an 11-point gap at the top of the table but will also set a new record for straight wins.

United, of course, will be without the suspended Paul Pogba for that game, a fact Guardiola bemoaned last night, when asked for his reaction to an interview in which the French midfielder quipped that he hoped City players suffered some injuries in the coming weeks.