Manchester City cruised to a simple 3-0 victory over struggling West Ham to pile more misery on Nuno Espirito Santo, with his side now guaranteed to spend Christmas in the relegation zone.
It is the fifth time the Hammers have been consigned to the bottom three at Christmas, and despite surviving the previous two scares, they might not be so lucky this time around. West Ham are three points from safety, having fallen to their 10th defeat of a dismal season.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring via Phil Foden's cross before Tijjani Reijnders rounded off a smart second for the hosts, who close in on Arsenal (who play Everton on Saturday night), temporarily displacing them at the top.
After conceding more chances than Pep Guardiola would deem comfortable - all three of which West Ham spurned early in the second period - Haaland made sure of victory with his 19th strike of a campaign that includes 38 goals for club and country. Results in the Premier League do not come much easier.
Nuno will point to an improved second half but such was their lack of conviction that the defeat felt inevitable, summed up perfectly by a late save from Gianluigi Donnarumma, who denied Crysencio Summerville a consolation goal with his face. Haaland passed up his opportunity for a hat-trick in stoppage time, too - the only reprieve of an otherwise grim afternoon for the Londoners.
Haaland loves games like this. He thrives off the space created by runs of Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Reijnders, knowing he does not necessarily need to touch the ball a lot to effect the game. His 14 touches were the lowest of any player on the park, and yet he had a hand in all three goals.
Fifty-seven per cent of those touches were inside West Ham's box and all bar one resulted in an effort on goal, generating an expected goals (xG) value of 1.32 - more than double that of any other player.
He joins an elite list of strikers to score 19 times this side of Christmas, alongside Andy Cole, Kevin Phillips and Luis Suarez, and has now netted the opener in 10 different games this season.
"Always I have to thank Erling for the goals, obviously," Guardiola said. He is chairing City's bid for the title this term and his form is compelling enough to suggest they will be there until the end.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola:
"We did many good things. Thanks to Erling for the goals. Defensively we are improving. But with the ball we were away, the way we attack depends on how the opponents defend and they have to be in the right positions to make [our play] more fluid.
"I'm happy, I cannot deny, but the way we play with the ball we have to improve or it will not be enough in March or April to be a contender to win the league.
"This is the only thing that makes me stay here, sitting in front of this beautiful audience, talking about my thoughts on the game. I like it, because many things were really good, but I want to be honest with myself. I said to my players: 'Merry Christmas for everyone but it will not be enough if we do not improve'.
"With the positions we have to be brave. We were not there. How many chances did they have first half? Zero, none. But even with that we were not in the right places to create, to be more solid. We didn't do the right process to be more consistent.
"Gigi saved us, it's quite similar to Leeds when they score and go 2-2. I'm not a magician to know the future but trust me, it will happen [that teams score against us]. We are not in the right places.
"If they follow me we will be there, but we have to improve. I know the level in this league, I know Arsenal, I know how tough they are. It's not enough. The spirit is there. But many, many things we must do better."
West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo:
"We are concerned for the situation. It requires a lot of improvement from ourselves, of course I'm concerned. We started the game really badly, giving balls away, blindly away. Of course everything becomes harder when you concede so early.
"The first period of the game was really hard. Much improvement in the second half, a couple of situations that could have changed the game but we didn't start well, no.
"We are insisting, believing and working hard on the training ground. Everyone has to stay committed. That is the only way I know. The reality is that we have been punished."
