David Silva restored Manchester City’s eight-point advantage at the top of the Premier League as Pep Guardiola’s side recovered from a lethargic first-half showing to see off West Ham 2-1.

The Spain playmaker signed a contract extension at the Etihad Stadium this week and underlined his enduring worth to a club where he sits among the best ever to don the shirt by leaping to volley home Kevin De Bruyne’s chipped cross at the back post seven minutes from time.

It means City have pulled level with Arsenal and Chelsea’s all-time record of 13 consecutive victories in a single Premier League season but with their third straight 2-1 win, following Raheem Sterling’s last-gasp heroics against Huddersfield Town and Southampton over the past week, they once again have showed signs of them dropping their swashbuckling form that typified their early season play.

This is arguably a concern for Guardiola, who saw centre-back Nicolas Otamendi cancel out Angelo Ogbonna’s 44th-minute opener with his third league goal of the season, ahead of a keenly anticipated derby showdown with nearest challengers Manchester United next weekend, although victory at Old Trafford would now see his team take a vice-like grip on the title race.

In the other Premier League encounter of the day, Bournemouth were forced to settle for a point after playing to a 1-1 draw against Southampton, with Ryan Fraser’s strike being cancelled out by a Charlie Austin goal.

-This story originally appeared on FourFourTwo.co.za