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Man City 8-0 Watford: Pep Guardiola's side silence critics in emphatic style
Even by Manchester City's standards, Saturday was quite a statement.
At the start of the week, the defending champions were supposedly in crisis - falling five points behind Liverpool after the shock of being beaten at Norwich, then losing one of their two remaining fit senior centre-halves to injury.
It was only one defeat but suddenly there were major doubts about City's defending and, with it, their prospects this season were supposedly fading fast.
For some observers, it was easy to see what had gone wrong - they should have replaced Vincent Kompany, they would not cope without Aymeric Laporte and now John Stones too, and, even in mid-September, they had already conceded too much ground in a title race where even the smallest margins matter.
At least, that is how the discussions went. Typically, Pep Guardiola's side reacted by silencing their critics, and in emphatic style.
Wednesday's 3-0 away Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk was an impressive start, in what was City's toughest fixture in Group C.
Watford were next. But while the visit of the bottom-of-the-table Hornets on Saturday was expected to be straightforward enough, nobody anticipated the total destruction that followed.
Even Guardiola, who is notoriously hard to please, admitted his side were a "joy to watch" in their 8-0 victory, their biggest in the league in his time at City.
There are tougher tests to come, of course, but this was exactly the response he was looking for - and a message to Liverpool too.
The Reds can restore their advantage at the top by beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, but they will go into that game knowing City are back at their best, and on their tail again.