Manchester City returned to winning ways by easing to a 3-1 victory over Watford at the Etihad Stadium.

After seeing their 18-match run ended by a goalless draw with Crystal Palace, City needed only 38 seconds to find the net through Raheem Sterling.

A Christian Kabasele own goal soon made it two and Sergio Aguero’s third made sure of the points before Watford grabbed a consolation through Andre Gray.

 

 

Tweet of the match

Star man – Kevin De Bruyne

Probably the best news of the night for City was that De Bruyne was fit to start after Jason Puncheon’s horror tackle.

And the Belgian was at the heart of nearly all City’s best moments. He would have had a goal, too, but for a fine save from Heurelho Gomes, who tipped his first-half free-kick onto the bar.

Stat of the match

When Kabasele turned in De Bruyne’s cross he became only the seventh player in Premier League history to suffer the misfortune of scoring an own goal in the 13th minute of a game.

Moment of the match

After the disappointment of seeing their winning run come to an end on Sunday, an early goal was just what City wanted, and it could scarcely have come any earlier or been any more simple.

Just 38 seconds after kick-off, Leroy Sane sprinted away down the left and crossed for Sterling to tap into an empty net.

Ratings

Manchester City

Ederson 7 (out of 10)
Kyle Walker 7
Nicolas Otamendi 6
John Stones 7
Fabian Delph 6
Fernandinho 6
David Silva 7
Kevin De Bruyne 9
Raheem Sterling 7
Leroy Sane 7
Sergio Aguero 7

Subs

Danilo (for Stones, 67) 5
Yaya Toure (for Fernandinho, 71) 5
Bernardo Silva (for De Bruyne, 79) 5

Watford

Heurelho Gomes 6
Daryl Janmaat 6
Molla Wague 5
Christian Kabasele 6
Marvin Zeegelaar 5
Abdoulaye Doucoure 5
Ben Watson 5
Andre Carrillo 5
Etienne Capoue 5
Richarlison 5
Andre Gray 6

Subs

Tom Cleverley (for Capoue, 61) 6
Roberto Pereyra (for Watson, 61) 6
Jerome Sinclair (for Richarlison, 82) 5