Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City continued their domination of the Premier League on Saturday as they fashioned their 17th league win in a row with a 4-0 demolition of Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium.

David Silva, missing from City’s matchday squads for the past two games, returned to the starting lineup as the runaway leaders sought to extend their advantage at the summit.

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Bournemouth, who had given Manchester United a tough time a week ago, were resolute in defence with the hosts dominating the game from kick-off, but the opener wasn’t long in coming and it was of the Cherries’ own making.

Asmir Begovic attempted to play the ball out of his penalty area with a horde of City players around, instead of lumping it, and paid the price as the ball was intercepted and Fernadinho’s clipped cross was headed into the back of the net by a diving Sergio Aguero in the 27th minute.

After third-placed Chelsea had been held to a 0-0 draw by Everton earlier on Saturday and second-ranked Manchester United not playing their game until later, City had the perfect opportunity to seize the advantage and they made sure of the result fairly early in the second-half.

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Raheem Sterling continued his fine goalscoring form by cooly finishing after Aguero’s deft flick had released him in the 53rd minute but City didn’t let the foot of the gas and would score two late goals to add gloss to the scoreline.

Bournemouth had their moments, but they were half-chances at best, with City goalkeeper Ederson dealing with whatever came his way with relative ease.

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And Aguero would score another header in the 79th minute, taking advantage of some slack marking before Danilo registered his first-ever City goal by beating Begovic with a drilled effort after lightning-fast break by the hosts in the 85th minute.

Pep Guardiola will be purring with delight for as Christmas approaches, there is not a team in England who seem capable of keeping pace with the Citizens.

Second-placed Manchester United can reduce the deficit if they beat Leicester City at the King Power Stadium late on Saturday, but even if the Red Devils eke out a win, they will still be trailing their derby rivals by 11 points.