With four assists and one goal, Jeremy Doku was the man of the match as Manchester City thrashed Bournemouth 6-1 at the Etihad Stadium, maintaining their position at the top of the Premier League table on Saturday.

As expected, Manchester City began the game on the front foot and took the lead half an hour later with a fantastic goal by Doku, following a one-two pass between the Belgian and Rodri.

Barely three minutes later, Doku set up Bernardo Silva, who expertly curled a low shot into the net, doubling the hosts’ lead. In the 37th minute, Doku fired the ball from outside the box, which struck Manuel Akanji and found its way into the net, giving City a 3-0 halftime advantage.

Despite being three goals up, the unrelenting City continued their dominance in the second half and scored their first goal of the half through Phil Foden, with Doku providing the assist.

In the 74th minute, Bournemouth pulled one back through Luis Sinisterra, a goal that seemed to rejuvenate the visitors. They made multiple attempts to further reduce the deficit, but their hopes were dashed when Doku launched a counter from his half to Silva in the 83rd minute.

Silva drove the ball into Bournemouth’s 18-yard box and chipped it over the goalkeeper’s head to score City’s fifth goal of the match. Nathaniel Ake would score five minutes later to seal the victory for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Manchester City remain at the top of the table with 27 points from 11 games and will temporarily hold that position until Tottenham, who are second in the table with 26 points, play Chelsea tomorrow.

Meanwhile, City’s local rivals, Manchester United, scored a stoppage-time goal courtesy of Bruno Fernandes to secure a scrappy win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

It was a much-needed redemption for Erik ten Hag and his side, who had suffered back-to-back heavy defeats at the hands of Man City in the league and Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup Round of 16 less than a week ago.