Manchester City recorded their second Premier League victory in a row with a flurry of second-half goals, dispatching of Dean Smith's Aston Villa.
Pep Guardiola's men now go within three points of Liverpool, ahead of Jurgen Klopp's men's showdown with Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow.
Story of the game
The champions got the game underway at a rainy Etihad stadium and straight away looked to get on the front foot, attacking the Premier League newcomers.
Gabriel Jesus had a chance on the turn to open the scoring inside the first five minutes, whilst Smith’s men tried, but struggled, to hold possession.
A half-chance then fell the way of Raheem Sterling, before Villa began to establish themselves in the game - John McGinn and Jack Grealish were looking a threat to the City backline on the counter-attack.
The away side then had the best chance of the game on the 22-minute mark.
Ederson saved McGinn’s effort, diving to his right, before getting up to deny Douglas Luiz from close range – a great opportunity to take an unexpected lead.
City went on to dominate the possession for the rest of the first-half, with David Silva having their best chance as he screwed the ball wide from 10 yards following Sterling’s cut-back, although on the whole, Villa looked confident in keeping the Blues out.
Within a minute of the second 45 resuming, City took the lead.
Jesus challenged Tyrone Mings for a header before the ball bounced to Sterling on the left flank, who cut onto his weaker left boot and fired past Tom Heaton.
The Villains had defended so well in the first-half, and Smith will be livid that his side wasn’t switched on at the start of the second.
Following the goal, the champions kicked on, full of confidence and looking to double their advantage.
Benjamin Mendy had a deflected header just wide before Jesus had a glorious chance to get his goal.
Sterling picked the ball up deep inside the Villa half and played it through to City’s number nine.
Jesus fired to Heaton’s left, the ‘keeper got a hand to it and Mings made up for his error on the goal by getting back to clear the ball off the line, off his knee and over the bar.
Just after the hour mark, City made it two.
Kevin De Bruyne whipped the ball in towards the near post before the ball appeared to flick off David Silva and into the back of the net.
On the 70th minute, it was three as Ilkay Gundogan fired home following a poor Villa clearance from a corner. Harsh on the away side who'd defended well for the majority of the afternoon.
Fernandinho was sent off with a few minutes to play after picking up two yellow cards - frustration for Guardiola given the fact they're struggling for number defensively already.
Despite this late disappointment, City held out for the clean sheet and all three points.
Takeaways from the match
Positive signs for Villa
Going into the encounter, many probably feared the worst for Villa, who hadn't exactly lit up the Premier League since their return following a play-off victory over Derby County in May.
Despite this, for the majority of the game, Villa defended well and even had some chances of their own in the first-half to take the lead.
Smith's men won't have to play City away every week, although if they do defend as well as they did in the first 45 every week, they should accumulate enough points to ensure safety for another year.
Another City clean sheet
A lot has been made of City's defence following a series of injuries leaving them light at the back in the early stages of the season.
The likes of Fernandinho and Rodri have had to step back into defence in the absence of Aymeric Laporte and John Stones, although back to back clean sheets in the league now signal that Guardiola's men are starting to get to the bottom of their defensive issues - a huge positive in their race for a third successive title.