Manchester City were forced to come from behind to rack up a record-equalling 13th consecutive Premier League victory this afternoon, beating West Ham United 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
The struggling visitors took a shock yet deserved lead right on the stroke of half time when Angelo Ogbonna powered his header past Ederson, punishing City for a lethargic and complacent first-half performance.
Pep Guardiola's side improved after the interval and levelled things up through Nicolas Otamendi shortly before the hour mark, but for the fourth game in a row it took a late winner to seal the points as this time David Silva stepped up to the plate.
Find out how all of the action unfolded courtesy of Sports Mole's minute-by-minute updates below.
It looks like being a daunting task for West Ham today, with City in relentlessly devastating form and on the verge of equalling the best ever run in the Premier League, having already broken records with their brilliant start to the season. The Hammers, meanwhile, are at the opposite end of the spectrum and find themselves only one point off the bottom of the table ahead of a difficult run of fixtures.
We will take a closer look at whether the visitors have any hope of pulling off a shock a little later, but we start as ever with the team news...
Well, such is the depth of the Manchester City squad that the eye is always automatically drawn to whether its is Gabriel Jesus or Sergio Aguero who leads the line for Pep Guardiola's side at the moment, and today is is Aguero who gets the nod.
They both started during the narrow midweek win over Southampton, but Jesus drops out of the starting XI this afternoon as Leroy Sane returns to the fold having missed the previous game through illness.
The England international has developed into the ultimate clutch player so far this season, and his form over the past week or so has been quite incredible. Sterling has scored the winning goal in the 84th minute or later four times this season, including in each of City's last three games - against Feyenoord, Huddersfield and then in the 96th minute against Southampton in midweek.
Couple that with the 82nd-minute equaliser he scored in the early-season draw with Everton and Sterling has been responsible for winning City nine extra points this season, including seven in the Premier League without which they would currently trail Manchester United by two points.
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Of course, he isn't exactly short of players to supply him with that firepower and, if one of Sterling, Sane, Aguero or Jesus cannot unlock a defence then the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva are more than capable of doing it. Both have been brilliant so far this season, with Silva having already surpassed last season's total number of assists.
Fernandinho is another to make way in a City side which shows four changes from the midweek win over Southampton, and the reason for that is surely that both he and Kompany are just one yellow card away from picking up a suspension - which would cause them to miss next weekend's Manchester derby. Sane is also a booking away, but he is trusted from the start.
Andy Carroll, Javier Hernandez and Jose Fonte all remain sidelined through injury, while on-loan goalkeeper Joe Hart is ineligible to play against his parent club - something he will be more annoyed about than anyone as he bids to prove Pep Guardiola wrong.
All that means there is a start for Rice in the heart of the defence - only the 18-year-old's third league start of the season, and what a game to get it in. Ogbonna will be alongside him at centre-back, but this will be a huge test for the youngster.
The occasions has been made even more special by Zabaleta being handed the West Ham armband for the first time too, with Mark Noble omitted from the squad entirely.
Should the Hammers pull off a shock then it is likely to come through either Lanzini or Antonio, the latter of whom has scored all of his last six Premier League goals away from home. He also scored in this corresponding fixture last season.
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Even ignoring West Ham's own poor form at the moment, Manchester City are the form team in the whole of Europe right now, with Pep Guardiola's side storming into a healthy lead at the top of the Premier League table with an unprecedented 40 points from their opening 14 games, dropping only two along the way.
Couple that with the joint-best defensive record in the division and you can see why Guardiola's side have found such an incredible winning formula this season, and one which West Ham will find it incredibly difficult to break here.
One year on, and City not only find themselves 10 points better off than at the same stage of last season, but also on the verge of equalling that Chelsea record of 13 Premier League wins in a row, which was initially set by Arsenal in 2001-02.
The Arsenal class of 2002 won 14 on the bounce over two seasons from February to August, meaning that City could equal that record - and break the single-season record - at Old Trafford in the Manchester derby next weekend, providing they win here first, of course.
However, they have only scraped by in recent weeks, needing those late, late goals from Raheem Sterling to edge past Feyenoord, Huddersfield and Southampton, so perhaps we may be coming to the end of their incredible run of form.
Manchester United's thrilling victory over Arsenal yesterday closed the gap back down to a more manageable five points, but City are expected to restore that to eight today and that would take them into next weekend's Manchester derby with the chance to go 11 points clear - surely an unassailable lead considering their form.
That includes 19 unbeaten Premier League home games and six consecutive wins prior to this one, although they would actually only sit third in the table behind Manchester United and Arsenal is only home form counted this season.
The midweek 4-0 defeat at the hands of Everton means that West Ham have now conceded 19 away goals in the league this season - more than any other team - so simply keeping the score down today could be considered a minor victory for the visitors.
Indeed, the Hammers have failed to even score in five of their seven away league games so far this season, including both of their matches under David Moyes so far, conceding six unanswered goals in the process.
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West Ham will be glad to be getting back to the London Stadium for their next two games, then, but even for those they will be big underdogs as they come up against Chelsea and Arsenal after this one.
The odds suggest that David Moyes's search for a first win as West Ham boss may go on for a few more weeks, then, unless the Scot can mastermind a shock against any of those top-four hopefuls.
Including the end of the Slaven Bilic era, West Ham's winless run in the Premier League now stretches back seven matches to their 1-0 triumph over fellow strugglers Swansea in September, with only five goals having been scored in that time. There are a lot of issues for Moyes to work out if the Hammers are to survive.
However, the alarm bells are ringing a lot louder for the Hammers this term having already sacked one manager and brought in another who hasn't exactly inspired confidence amongst the fans. West Ham are three points adrift of safety and only one point clear of bottom, and another defeat today would set a new club record for the fewest points after 15 games of a Premier League season.
Moyes's hopes of running City that close today look bleak, but first and foremost he must attempt to keep his side in the game beyond the opening exchanges. City have only scored twice inside the first 15 minutes so far this season, but West Ham have conceded a joint league-high four during that period and another joint league-high of 14 goals in the first half too, so they are playing catch-up far too often
This one looks like one of the biggest bankers you will see all season - the formbook, the stats and just about everything else points to a comfortable and convincing Man City victory, and the likelihood of West Ham being the team to halt their charge looks very slim indeed. Easy win for the hosts.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: Man City 4-0 West Ham
That solitary West Ham win here came in September 2015, although there is potentially a bad omen for City from that game as the Hammers' victory ended what was then City's club-record winning run in the Premier League (11 matches).
All three of those West Ham wins came in the Premier League, although it is still a pretty poor record of three wins, four draws and 13 defeats from their last 20 league meetings with City.
The most recent clash was that 4-0 triumph as De Bruyne, Silva, Jesus and Toure all got on the scoresheet, while the last meeting here saw Sterling score yet another late goal - his second of the game - in a 3-1 win for City.
MANCHESTER CITY STARTING XI: Ederson; Otamendi, Mangala, Danilo; Walker, De Bruyne, Silva, Delph; Sterling, Sane, Aguero
WEST HAM STARTING XI: Adrian; Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Fernandes, Kouyate, Obiang, Masuaku; Lanzini; Antonio
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WATCH: A decent save from Adrian after David Silva hit the first meaningful effort on target.
— Sky Sports PL (@SkySportsPL) December 3, 2017
Manchester City v West Ham Utd is LIVE on Sky Sports Premier League now! https://t.co/eTB2lPCIrl
The Hammers play a corner short before Cresswell swings his cross into the box which Ogbonna meets with a firm head in front of Otamendi. Ederson gets a hand to it, but he cannot keep it out and the Etihad is stunned!
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Very few people gave West Ham even a hint of a chance today, but it is the visitors who go into the break with a shock lead - and even more amazingly it is a deserved one too.
City have looked vulnerable from set pieces in recent weeks, and West Ham were the latest to exploit that weakness as Creswell played the corner short before receiving it back and swinging his cross into the middle. Ogbonna beat Otamendi to the ball and planted a firm header past Ederson, who could not keep it out.
Defensively, the Hammers have been very disciplined and have not let City play through them at any stage, and if they can repeat that performance in the second half then they could well come away from this match with one of the shocks of the season.
Silva is the only player who has come close to scoring with a deflected strike which needed to be tipped over the top by Adrian, but aside from that City have created very little despite dominating the possession.
4 - Angelo Ogbonna is the fourth Italian to score a Premier League goal for @WestHamUtd - only Chelsea (5) have had more in the competition. Forza.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 3, 2017
The Argentine has made a striker's run to get in front of Rice and he gets just enough on the ball - via a deflection off Rice - to smuggle it past the keeper.
WHAT A MISS!
— Sky Sports PL (@SkySportsPL) December 3, 2017
A fine save from Adrian and the ball falls to Sterling who has an open goal but fluffs his lines!
Sky Sports Premier League now! https://t.co/x2UqnstwPt
The Belgian's pass was inch-perfect and Silva got behind Rice to volley it at full stretch.
That is only half of the story, though, as West Ham battled well and took the lead in the closing stages of the first half, only for goals from Otamendi and Silva to hand the league leaders all three points yet again.
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for today's Premier League clash as top-of-the-table Manchester City battle past struggling West Ham for a record-equalling win, leaving it late once again. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!