• Leaders Manchester City forge clear with 7-2 win over Stoke
• Man City host Burnley next, Stoke at home to Bournemouth

LONDON: Unbeaten Manchester City opened up a two-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with another demonstration of bewildering brilliance in their 7-2 thrashing of Stoke City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's title favourites looked irresistible as goals from Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and David Silva in the opening half-hour put the seal on their dazzling football and made a sixth straight league win a seeming formality.

Yet against all odds, Mame Biram Diouf pulled one back just before the break and soon after halftime his header deflected off Kyle Walker's thigh into the net.

City then went into overdrive, with Jesus's second -- his seventh goal this season -- Fernandinho, Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva getting in on the act to ensure they scored at least five goals at the Etihad for the third successive league match.

They also became the first English top-flight team to score 29 goals in their first eight league games of the season since Everton achieved the feat in 1894-95.