Man City 5-0 Burnley |
For Burnley, their mini-revival of three games unbeaten hit the buffers but easier challenges than this lie ahead for Sean Dyche's men.
On his first return to Manchester City as an opposition player, Joe Hart received a warm reception from the home galleries but got no special treatment from his former team-mates.
Aguero was on hand to power home past Hart after 16 minutes following some silky approach by David Silva.
Team news
Kevin De Bruyne returned from over two months off – he was on the bench. Perhaps surprisingly, Raheem Sterling was dropped for Leroy Sane while Kyle Walker was out injured. For Burnley, Sean Dyche has made two changes from the draw at Huddersfield with Steven Defour and Jeff Hendrick returning to the team.
John Stones had to be alert to block away a goal-bound Jeff Hendrick effort on 35 minutes but it was City playing all the forward-thinking football. Clear-cut chances were hard to come by, although Aguero did fire wide from a tight angle just before the break.
Burnley always had a puncher's chance but the all-important second goal ended their hopes of an unlikely result - but it was soaked in controversy.
On 54 minutes, Sane went down in the area after what looked like a foul, which drew referee Moss to put the whistle to his lips but not commit to a decision. Burnley's defenders then stopped to seemingly accuse Sane of diving but David Silva was alive to the situation and kept the ball alive on the by-line.
The ball looked to be out of play but was missed by the officials and his pass was smashed home in style by Bernardo Silva. The Burnley players surrounded the referee but the goal was given.
Burnley never really recovered from that moment and Fernandinho thumped home a third with a powerful side-footed effort two minutes later.
De Bruyne, back earlier than expected from knee ligament damage sustained in August, added further quality to City and Mahrez bent in a sumptuous fourth goal from 25 yards with seven minutes left before Sane wrapped things up in injury time.
Man of the match: David Silva
Amazingly, he came into the game with no assists this season but had created the second-most chances of any player in the league (22). He was at his creative best again here. There were to be no goals for the City legend but he unlocked the door twice to break his duck in terms of assists. That is 77 Premier League assists for the club in 255 appearances.
Manager reaction: Pep Guardiola
"It's always hard after the international break as you don't know what's going to happen. In the first-half we created chances and Joe Hart made some incredible saves. But the second half was much better - it's always hard after the international break to get into a rhythm. But we had players on the bench to change our pace but when we scored the second and third goals it was easier. We played seriously and had a good game."
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City's goals were outstanding as they beat Burnley 5-0 at the Etihad.
Manager reaction: Sean Dyche
"It's a strange goal for the second, which is inevitably the killer and the change in the game. Someone goes down with the tiniest of touches in the manner like they've been hit in the side. That's nearly given by the ref, then not given and waved away. Then the ball goes out of play, they cross it and then they score from it. Then at 2-0 down it's really difficult. We lost focus as we were so involved with the officials."
Burnley's Sean Dyche thinks Man City's Vincent Kompany should have seen red in the first minute during their 5-0 defeat.
What's next?
City travel to Ukraine for a Wednesday night Champions League fixture with Shakhtar Donetsk while Burnley are back in action next Sunday with a tricky trip to Chelsea.
Huddersfield 0-1 Liverpool: Mohamed Salah strike piles pressure on hosts
Mohamed Salah's first goal in five club games was enough to steer Liverpool to a 1-0 victory against a Huddersfield side who remain without a win after nine Premier League games.
Liverpool's only shot on target all match proved to be the winner as Salah latched on to Xherdan Shaqiri's through ball (24) to score his 50th goal in English football.
Jonathan Hogg hit the woodwork soon after, but it was as close as Huddersfield came to levelling, with David Wagner's side now without a home goal in five league games this season.
The result leaves Huddersfield in 19th on three points, while Liverpool move back up to second behind leaders Manchester City on goal difference.
Mohamed Salah proved decisive as Dejan Lovren helped Liverpool to a sixth Premier League clean sheet in nine matches
With Jurgen Klopp handing Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana their first starts of the season, it was a slow start to proceedings at the John Smith's Stadium as Liverpool struggled with their link-up play in the final third.
However, that was corrected midway through the half, as Shaqiri found Salah in a pocket of space before the Egyptian poked it across Jonas Lossl to score his fourth goal of the season.
Salah's strike was ultimately the only shot on target all half, though Huddersfield did come close when Hogg's fierce strike from 25 yards hit the post.
And the home side will feel they were denied a first-half penalty when the ball brushed both James Milner's thigh and hand, and soon after they saw a goal ruled out for offside when Alex Pritchard strayed just off before dinking an effort over Alisson.
After the break, a header from the backtracking Laurent Depoitre forced Alisson into his only save of the match 10 minutes into the second half.
Tottenham 1-0 West Ham
Erik Lamela scored the only goal as Tottenham beat West Ham 1-0 at the London Stadium to extend their winning run in the Premier League to four matches.
With just a minute to go until half-time, Lamela netted what proved to be the winner with a glancing header into the far corner after being picked out by a cross from Moussa Sissoko.
West Ham did have the ball in the net with five minutes to go through Javier Hernandez, but it was correctly ruled out after Marko Arnautovic had drifted into an offside position.
Mauricio Pochettino did not look particularly happy at full-time after witnessing another scrappy performance from his side, but the win lifts them into the top four and just two points behind league leaders Manchester City.
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