BUFFALO, N.Y. -- - Sabres starting goalie Linus Ullmark will miss at least the next month with a lower-body injury, leaving Buffalo with one established netminder.

Captain Jack Eichel will also miss his second game but remains day-to-day with a lower body injury, coach Ralph Krueger said before Buffalo hosted the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Veteran backup Carter Hutton will take over and start both games of Buffalo's weekend series against the Flyers, with minor league call-up Jonas Johansson serving as backup.

High-priced forward Jeff Skinner, however, is set to return after being a healthy scratch for the past three games. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen will play 3 1/2 weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 and spending two weeks in the NHL's coronavirus protocol.

Forward Tobias Rieder will return after missing two games with an upper-body injury.

Krueger wouldn't reveal details of Ullmark's injury in calling it "a huge loss."

Ullmark was shaken six minutes into a 4-3 overtime loss to New Jersey Devils on Thursday. He continued playing and stopped all 15 shots in the first period and did not return for the second period.

Ullmark has a 5-4-2 record and was coming off a 41-save outing in a 4-1 win at New Jersey on Tuesday.

Eichel was a late scratch after participating in pregame warm-ups on Thursday.

Skinner's return comes amid questions of whether he and Krueger see eye-to-eye while the 11th-year player and seven-time 20-goal-scorer is in the midst of a slump.

In the second season of an eight-year, $72 million contract, Skinner has one assist in 14 games this season, and not scored in 18 games dating to last season.

"Hopefully, this proves to be a good little regroup to launch and excellent rest of the season for Jeff," Krueger said.

Ristolainen had a severe bout with COVID-19 in which he experienced chest pains and fatigue. He will bolster a blue-line group that lost Jake McCabe (right knee) and Will Borgen (broken right forearm) this past week.

Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry both struck twice as Bayern Munich crushed Cologne 5-1 on Saturday to earn their first win in three league games and go five points clear at the top.

The champions, who next week face Borussia Dortmund, are on 52 points, with RB Leipzig, second on 47, taking on Borussia Monchengladbach later on Saturday.

Wolfsburg remained in third place with a 2-0 victory over Hertha Berlin.

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Apart from Lewandowski and Gnabry, Bayern were also indebted to Leon Goretzka who delivered another silky performance with three assists.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting opened the champions' account with his first league goal this season, heading in Leon Goretzka's cross at the far post in the 18th minute.

Lewandowski struck 15 minutes later, combining with Goretzka after a bad pass back from Cologne and the Pole made it 28 league goals from an assist by Thomas Muller, seconds after the midfielder came on in the 65th minute following a coronavirus infection.

Muller is the league's top provider with 11 assists while Lewandowski is looking to break Gerd Mueller's record of 40 league goals in one season dating back to the 1971-72 campaign.

Substitute Gnabry completed the rout with two late goals in four minutes.

"For our way forward we have to stop having these shaky periods during the match," Gnabry said. "We have to reduce them and then we will be stronger."

Such phases during their recent games have proved costly for Bayern, including a 3-3 against strugglers Arminia Bielefeld two weeks ago and their 2-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt last week.

Cologne had briefly cut the deficit four minutes after the restart with Ellyes Skhiri making the most of blunders by three Bayern defenders.

West Bromwich Albion secured a 1-0 home Premier League victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday as the visitors missed two penalties and were controversially denied a goal by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

West Brom began brightly and were rewarded for their pressure in the 11th minute when skipper Kyle Bartley rose above the Brighton defence to head Conor Gallagher's cross in from close range.

- How VAR decisions have affected every club this season

Brighton spurned the opportunity to equalise minutes later when midfielder Pascal Gross's penalty cannoned off the crossbar after VAR adjudged that Okay Yokuslu had handled the ball in the West Brom box.

Lewis Dunk found the net with a quick free kick that caught West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone off guard, but after a long delay in which referee Lee Mason disallowed and then allowed the goal, the Brighton skipper's effort was chalked off by the VAR.

The league later confirmed that the decision to award Brighton the goal was overturned as the referee's whistle had been blown a second time before the ball had crossed the line.

"The referee blew his whistle he said to speak to someone in the wall, there was a bit of pushing," Bartley told Sky Sports.

"There was a bit of confusion but Lee Mason dealt with it well and came to the right conclusion. It was confusing, I don't think it would have been right for them to score like that.

"We need to win games, whoever it is, we need to put points on the board."

Gross won a late penalty when Conor Townsend brought him down but substitute Danny Welbeck's effort hit the post to complete a frustrating day for Brighton.

Victory left 19th-placed West Brom with 17 points from 26 games, five points below fellow relegation contenders Fulham who visit Crystal Palace on Sunday. Brighton are 16th with 26 points.

Brighton & Hove Albion's Lewis Dunk said referee Lee Mason's performance in their 1-0 Premier League defeat at West Bromwich Albion was "embarrassing" after he allowed and then disallowed a goal before the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) stepped in.

Dunk scored in the first half with a quick free kick that caught out West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone but Mason chalked off the goal before reversing his decision, only for VAR to intervene and deny Brighton.

- How VAR decisions have affected every club this season

The league said the referee's decision was overturned as he had blown his whistle a second time before the ball had crossed the line.

"It's embarrassing, it's a horrendous decision, I said to the referee 'can I take it?' He blew his whistle and I took it. Just because there was so much pressure from the bench," Dunk told Sky Sports.

"Why doesn't he come and speak to the press like me? Never, they hide behind their bubble.

"I don't think he knew what he was doing. He gave the goal, why did he give it? I don't know why VAR was getting involved, he said 'goal'... you can look on the video if you want."

Brighton boss Graham Potter said his side did not help their own cause by missing two penalties, although the decisions of the officials became the talking point at the Hawthorns.

"The confusion is on the pitch and it gets worse when someone outside this area is making the decisions," Potter said.

"It is what it is. We've not helped ourselves with the two penalties so I cannot put it all down to that [disallowed goal]."

West Brom manager Sam Allardyce said the result was all important.

"Obviously, the most important thing for us was a clean sheet and a corner we converted very well," Allardyce said.

"Not as good a performance... but sometimes only the result matters."

Gerard Pique has warned Barcelona's La Liga title rivals that the Catalan side are right back in the race after an impressive 2-0 away at Sevilla FC on Saturday.

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Goals from Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi temporarily moved Barca up to second in the standings, two points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who have two games in hand and travel to Villarreal on Sunday.

Real Madrid, who face Atletico next weekend, are third, one point behind Barca ahead of Monday's fixture against Real Sociedad.

It's been quite a turnaround for Barca, who were 12 points off the pace and sat seventh in the table after losing to Cadiz in December. Koeman's side are unbeaten in 15 league games since then and Pique says they are brimming with confidence after earning a first win against a top-four side this season.

"The league is on, of course it is," Pique told reporters as Barca chase a third title in four years after missing out on top spot last season to Madrid.

"Teams have come back from worse situations in the past and the team, despite those two games recently [against Paris Saint-Germain and Cadiz] have done well in 2021. We can be confident.

"Sevilla, at their ground, haven't had a shot on goal against us or even created a clear chance. It's not the ideal situation, sure, but I have faith in the team."

Pique was one of three Barca players to set alarm bells ringing in the win at the Sanchez Pizjuan when he was taken off in the second half with a knock. He said his change had been pre-arranged with coach Ronald Koeman but Barca will have to wait and see how serious knocks are to Pedri and Ronald Araujo.

Pedri injured his calf muscle and will undergo tests on Sunday, while Araujo was taken off as a precaution, shortly after replacing Pique, after appearing to re-injure his ankle in his first appearance following a three-week layoff.

A formation change helped Barca get the better of Sevilla, with Koeman switching to a back three and using Sergino Dest and Jordi Alba as wing bacs.

"Above all, we changed the shape because we wanted to try and press Sevilla high, but also playing with three centre-backs and wing backs made it easier to stop Sevilla playing," the Barca coach told a news conference.

"It was a risky system. Without the ball, we pressed, we tried to play one vs. one. We wanted to take advantage of Dembele's pace and the first goal was an example of that. How we played without the ball was the key and, overall, it was a really complete performance."

Barca meet Sevilla again on Wednesday at Camp Nou in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal. They trail 2-0 from the first leg.

"Of course we believe we can turn it around, but it will be a very different game," Koeman said. "The first thing is to show ambition. If we produce a complete performance, we have a chance."

Sixteen pink-ball Test matches have been played so far, with only five of those stretching up to the fifth day. The most-recent pink-ball Test, between India and England in Ahmedabad, finished within two days, throwing up the shortest Test result since 1935 and the shortest in India. The day-night fixture against Bangladesh in Kolkata in 2019 had resulted in the second-shortest Test in the country.

Two days after the Motera Test, R Ashwin conceded that the challenges posed by the pink ball to the batsmen could be responsible for such Tests ending quickly.

"It could be. Honestly, if you give a little bit of favour stacked towards the bowlers, this is what might happen," Ashwin said during a virtual media interaction. "Because the ball…[there's] a little bit of advantage towards the bowlers. It starts to swing more, it seams more, and the margin of error for the batter is so much more little. Instead of the ball beating the bat or probably getting a thick outside edge, it ends up getting a fine edge and goes behind to the keeper. These are things that we've noticed and it even happened at the Eden Gardens when we played Bangladesh.

Ashwin even cited the examples of the 2020 Adelaide and 2018 Auckland Tests, explaining that pink-ball Tests have usually had early finishes.

"It could very well be spoken about how we really played well in that game [against Bangladesh] and won that game and all that… but that's been the nature of the pink-ball Test. Even the one in New Zealand, where England got all out for 59 [58], and we got all out in Australia for 36 - if you look at the larger picture of Test cricket, you might say these are one-off occasions, but these are regular affairs in pink-ball Tests."

In the third Test in Ahmedabad, England reunited James Anderson with Stuart Broad at the expense of a frontline spinner in Dom Bess. England captain Joe Root later told the host broadcaster that the swing and seam the pink ball had offered at practice had prompted that decision. England's selection came under sharper focus after they lost 19 of their 20 wickets to spin on a turner.

As for Ashwin, he said that he was uncertain about the behavior of the pink ball.

"Look even before I started the game in the nets, we were a little skeptical as a spin group - I mean not as a spin group, I'll just talk for myself," Ashwin said. "But, when I did bowl, the balance of the ball seemed very different to that of the red ball - when you tried to put a lot of revs, it probably wasn't rotating as much on the seam as I thought the red ball was rotating.

"Clearly, the chance of it catching the glossy surface was far greater and if at all it caught the seam, it was you know spinning quite big at times, and it was not really responding the way the red ball might respond. Whatever was happening was happening a little quicker off the surface, so I think it did make a difference. If we'd played a red-ball game on the same surface, I think the pace of the game might have been a touch slower. But these are all things I'm talking about in hindsight. Only if you've done it, you will know it."

Sighting the pink ball wasn't an issue, according to Ashwin, but he said that the way it skidded rapidly off the track was "quite different". Ashwin and Axar Patel, in particular, undercut the pink ball to make life even more difficult for the tourists.

"The way it skidded was how it skidded (laughs) because I can't really explain," Ashwin said. "But a small few microseconds make such a huge difference in the game. If it's going to skid on like even a fraction of the second quicker, it's the difference between hitting the inside edge and hitting the pad. So, it is quite different, sometimes the batsman can be caught with bat behind the pad because the [pink] ball skidded faster than what you are used to the red ball skidding. So, to make an adjustment with the span of five-six days it's not so easy, but the more we play, the players will get better at it."

Ashwin said that India didn't have any apprehensions about playing with the pink ball and reckoned that the players would deal with it better with more game-time.

"There is no apprehension. If there's apprehension, we can probably express. There is no apprehension as such for the pink-ball Test. I think it's completely a new sort of a facet that's being introduced into the game. You are used to playing with the red ball, and everybody is conditioned, like I said, to playing with the red ball, and all of sudden they've brought in the pink ball. And the pink ball is bringing new dimensions to the game, so it's about adapting. If you play more and more and obviously get used to it, the players are going to adapt better for the good.

"It's the same thing with one-day cricket, right? We were playing with the red ball for a long period of time, then we shifted to the white ball. Initially, the white ball was doing a lot more and now it literally does nothing. That's how this format will also evolve because people are trying to understand what works with the pink ball and what doesn't, how to adapt and all these sorts of stuff. Anything new is going to throw a lot of challenges and that's the beauty of the sport."

When asked if there are any differences between the Kookaburra pink ball and the SG variety, Ashwin said that he couldn't pinpoint any, given the small sample size. Ashwin - and India - had used the Kookaburra pink ball in Adelaide last year, and the SG one in the home Tests against Bangladesh and England.

"I don't think there's enough sample size to compare both because I've played only a grand two days of pink-ball cricket with the Kookaburra and the same with SG," he said. "So, the surfaces have been different - different conditions and different dynamics to the ball. I think what I realised with the pink ball in Australia was it definitely aided more bounce and pace off the surface than the red one. Here also, it was the same. It offered more bounce and pace off the pitch than the red ball would. That's probably due to the lacquer in the ball and also probably the slightly more prouder seam that both these pink balls have. I can't really different much at this point of time and I'll have a very few sample size in my hand when I'm done."

Peshawar Zalmi 122 for 4 (Kohler-Cadmore 46, Hasan Ali 2-14) beat Islamabad United 118 (Hales 41, Riaz 4-17, Mahmood 3-12) by six wickets

In the Pakistan Super League, T20 cricket is a simple game: 22 men hit a ball around for three hours, and in the end, the chasing team wins.

On Saturday night in Karachi, the formula of winning the toss, choosing to bowl and winning the match worked for the tenth time out of ten this season, as Peshawar Zalmi won their third game in a row by bowling Islamabad United out for 118 and chasing the target down with 17 balls to spare.

United's deep batting line-up had worked perfectly in their first two games, as they successfully chased targets of 151 and 197, but they struggled against Zalmi's quicks Wahab Riaz and Saqib Mahmood and only briefly threatened to post a worthwhile total on a decent batting pitch. They raced to 38 for 1 after 4.2 overs thanks to a bright start from Alex Hales, and recovered from three quick wickets to reach 81 for 4 after 10, but they lost wickets too regularly and were bowled out at the start of the 18th over.

Zalmi started horribly in their run chase, losing both openers inside the first two overs and struggling to score against the new ball, but Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Shoaib Malik steadied them before Haider Ali's cameo - including an 89-metre straight six off his first ball - put the game to bed.

Star of the day
Riaz had returned figures of 2 for 105 across his eight overs in Zalmi's previous two games, with head coach Daren Sammy suggesting that he had been struggling with the burden of the captaincy. But things clicked for him on Saturday night, as he struck the first blow before returning to clean up the lower-middle order.

With Lewis Gregory managing an injury, Paul Stirling was brought in for his first game in the PSL less than 24 hours after being named as Ireland's men's player of the decade 2011-2020. But his stay lasted only two balls, as he was foxed by extra bounce from a length and chopped Riaz onto his own stumps.

He returned when Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali were looking to take the innings deep, and removed both in the space of six balls: Iftikhar holed out to deep midwicket, and Asif picked out long-on. His final wicket came in the 17th over, as he pinned the dangerous Hasan Ali lbw. Riaz's method was fairly uncomplicated, hitting the pitch hard on a good length outside off stump, but the simplicity brought him his rewards.

Miss of the day
Did Shadab Khan err by holding back some of his bowling resources until too late? If United had a chance of winning after posting such a low total, it relied on their two best seamers taking wickets with the new ball, and Zalmi were 19 for 2 after five overs with Ali and Mohammad Wasim finding extra bounce from a length and both bowling at good pace.

But instead of going for the kill, Khan held both men back, instead turning to Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Ahmed and himself. Malik and Kohler-Cadmore both looked comfortable against the legspinners, knocking the ball around with minimal pressure on the scoring rate. When Fawad struck in the 13th over to have Kohler-Cadmore edging behind, Zalmi required only 50 off 44 balls at the time of his dismissal; by the time Wasim began his third over, they needed 23 off 30.

Hasan removed the dangerous Haider in his final over, the 17th, and let out a trademark roar of celebration, but Khan had let the game drift and ensured that it was effectively over by the time his strike bowler had returned.

Honourable mentions
Zalmi's English contingent, Mahmood and Kohler-Cadmore, continued their fine early form in the competition. Mahmood looks to have added half a yard of pace, regularly passing 87mph/140kph, and has been able to extract movement with both the new and old ball. He bamboozled Phil Salt with a slower ball, had Hales caught off a full toss and cleaned up Wasim to finish with remarkable figures of 3 for 12 and became the season's leading wicket-taker in the process.

Kohler-Cadmore's run-a-ball 46 was unflashy, particularly when compared to his 53 off 32 on debut against Multan Sultans, but having come in at No. 3 inside the first over with Ali breathing fire, it was a crucial knock. He soaked up the pressure early on, crawling to 5 off 16 balls as he dug in against the new ball, but accelerated well and ensured the required rate never went above seven, slog-sweeping well against the leggies.

Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam is expected to remain in the league's health and safety protocol through the All-Star break, missing the final three games of the first half, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Siakam sat out Friday's victory over Houston in the protocol.

The Raptors were without Siakam and six coaches, including head coach Nick Nurse, on Friday night because of health and safety protocols. Siakam will miss games vs. the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics in the coming week.

Raptors assistant Sergio Scariolo slid over into the head coach's chair, leading the team to a 122-111 win over the Rockets in Tampa, Florida.

Siakam is averaging 20.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season.

Ireland ran in six tries to claim their first win of this year's Six Nations in a one-sided contest against a poor Italy in Rome.

CJ Stander, Connors and Keith Earls added further tries after the break as Ireland strolled to a win.

For Italy, it is a 30th consecutive Six Nations defeat.

The Azzurri have conceded 139 points in their opening three matches and despite flashes of attacking flair, it is their porous defence that continues to fail them in a winless run in the tournament that stretches back to 2013.

A comfortable win with a clear and accurate attacking identity was what was required from Ireland following consecutive opening defeats, and that is what was delivered as they produced an accomplished performance that will provide grounds for optimism as they approach a meeting with Scotland at Murrayfield in two weeks.

Italian defence aids improved Irish attack

As they arrived in Rome the microscope was firmly on Ireland's attack, which had yielded just two tries so far in the tournament.

Against Wales and France, their lack of cutting edge let them down as they failed to capitalise on decent territory - as a result most Irish fans and pundits had called for a more dynamic and ruthless attacking display against Italy.

That is what they got. Aided by a desperate Italian defence Ireland created attacking platforms and continually got beyond the gainline.

Ringrose's score came two minutes after Iain Henderson had bizarrely been adjudged to have knocked on beyond the line despite replays showing a clear grounding. However they soon were on the board as Jamison Gibson-Park sent the ball out to the backs, where Ringrose collected and straightened up to dart through two defenders.

Italy, who lost starting scrum-half Stephen Varney to an injury in the warm-up, could not get out of their own way as their penalty count invited more pressure.

Keenan and Connors, both of whom scored against Italy on their international debuts last October, again found the tryline just five minutes apart through similar moves as Ireland won an attacking line-out and quickly shifted the ball right across the pitch to open up space the the Italian defence could not cover.

A satisfactory and refreshing half for Ireland was blemished in the final act when multiple penalties gave Italy the chance to drive forward and claw back seven points as Paolo Garbisi jinked between two forwards and freed his hands enough to send Meyer over the line.

Connors makes Scotland selection case

Having made seven changes from the side that lost to France, head coach Andy Farrell will have some tough decisions to make for the trip to Edinburgh with several players making strong cases to retain their starting number.

Connors and fellow flanker Tadhg Beirne were among those to contribute handsomely as Ireland continued to show impressive variety in their play to maintain the upper hand throughout.

A Stander pick-and-go increased the lead before referee Mathieu Raynal lost patience with consistent Italian indiscipline, sending prop Giosue Ziocchi to the bin for deliberately slowing the ball with Ireland bearing down on the line once again.

Lock Ryan Baird and Craig Casey were introduced for their senior debuts, with Munster scrum-half Casey in particular offering an exciting glimpse of what he may bring to the green shirt in the coming years, bringing the tempo up a gear with the result long beyond doubt.

Both Stander and wing James Lowe had tries disallowed with Ireland looking to push their points beyond 50, as Connors brought them closer when he touched down from a rolling maul.

The final act of the game saw Earls, a half-time replacement for Jordan Larmour who was removed as a precaution, collected Johnny Sexton's flat pass to cross in the corner.

Man of the Match

Italy: Trulla; Sperandio, Brex, Canna, Ioane; Garbisi, Braley; Lovitto, Bigi (capt), Riccioni; Lazzaroni, Sisi; Negri, Meyer, Lamaro

Replacements: Lucchesi, Traore, Zilocchi, Cannone, Mbanda, Palazzani, Mori, Bellini

Ireland: Keenan; Larmour, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Sexton, Gibson-Park; Kilcoyne, Kelleher, Furlong; Henderson, Ryan (capt); Beirne, Connors, Stander.

Replacements: Herring, Healy, Porter, Baird, Conan, Casey, Burns, Earls.

MANCHESTER, England -- As Rodri re-took his seat in the stands at the break, he was asked by a member of Manchester City's staff about Pep Guardiola's half-time team talk. That the Spanish midfielder chose to respond only by widening his eyes and puffing out his cheeks said everything about Guardiola's mood and how the first 45 minutes against West Ham United had gone.

But as always seems to be the way these days, Guardiola was left talking afterwards about another win. It ended 2-1 and City now have 20 wins in a row.

Even on a relatively off day for Guardiola's team, West Ham, the Premier League's other team in form, could not find a way to end the run. You know it's going well when your forwards can't score but both centre-backs chip in with a goal.

It was almost as if Ruben Dias and John Stones, the two goal scorers, took it personally when Michail Antonio became the first opposition player to score at the Etihad Stadium since Mohamed Salah in November. City have defended so well this season that Dias and Stones have scored more goals (5) than they have conceded (3) in games they have started together.

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More importantly for Guardiola, City are now 13 points clear at the top with 12 games to play.

"It was really difficult, after 45 minutes today we realise we are not going to paint anything beautiful," said Guardiola. "Second half we were much better than the first half. When you play a lot of games, in the league and then the Champions League, this is normal.

"We were lucky to get all three points. The mathematics matter at the end of the season."

It's been a while since Guardiola has had to tear strips off his players during a winning run that started in December, but he was not happy with a first-half performance that saw West Ham have six shots to City's two. The score at half-time was 1-1 but West Ham could easily have been ahead. Antonio scored one after it was put on a plate by Jesse Lingard but should have had another when he skewed a good chance wide.

City haven't had to hang on for results recently but David Moyes was still rushing to get the ball back in play in stoppage time as his team looked for an equaliser. They nearly got one too, but Issa Diop couldn't get his late header on target from Lingard's pinpoint cross.

Lingard, signed on loan from Manchester United in January, was West Ham's spark at the centre of everything positive they did going forward. Playing in the hole just off the striker, he got one assist for Antonio's goal but would have had a couple more if the finishing had been better.

The 28-year-old could have stayed on the fringes at Old Trafford but he forced a move away and his faith in his own ability is paying off. He is back on Gareth Southgate's radar after a spell out of the England squad and on this evidence it's easy to see why.

With a year left on his contract, Manchester United will have a decision to make in the summer: either offer him a new one or sell. The downside for West Ham is that with every passing game, his price tag is going up and up. Lingard was name-checked afterwards by Guardiola as a reason why City had struggled so much.

Moyes, meanwhile, is still hoping West Ham can nick an unlikely place in next season's Champions League.

"I am really disappointed we didn't get a point," he said. "It was a terrific performance from the players. We tried to match a top side and for long periods we did. I don't want to promise what I can't deliver, if someone had said at the start of the season we would finish in the top half we would have been happy.

"We came to the best team in Europe and gave them a really good game. If we play like that between now and the end of the season we will be up near the top. We've had a good season but we have the chance to make it a great season."

Guardiola's side are dreaming of a great season as well, and it could yet end with an unprecedented quadruple. Already in the Carabao Cup final, into the quarterfinals of the FA Cup and well on their way to another Premier League title, it is hard to see who can stop them from winning a second domestic treble in three years.

For a while now they have seemed destined to stroll effortlessly to the title but against West Ham they also had an answer to a sterner examination. Beauty and brawn is a good mix for a team still fighting on four fronts, and City have both.