Manchester City 2 Watford 1 - how the game unfolded

Indeed, in the end, it was the Hornets who spent the closing minutes pushing for an equaliser as they lost 2-1 and left the Etihad with plenty of credit.

It was the narrowest margin of defeat Watford have suffered at City since they drew 0-0 in December 2006 – their best result in the eight visits after that was a 2-0 loss in December 2016.

As anticipated, it was a much-changed Watford team that included a first appearance for summer signing Angelo Ogbonna.

Festy Ebosele made his first start for the Hornets, while Kwadwo Baah and Imran Louza were also in the team.

Giogi Chakvetadze was on the bench along with Mamadou Doumbia, Pierre Dwomoh and Michael Adu-Poku.

City gave a debut to central defender Kaiden Braithwaite, who only turned 16 in March!

Once again, anything worked on in training was undermined as another defensive error handed the home side the lead inside five minutes but, after that, Watford gave a decent account of themselves.

Baah had a goal disallowed for a foul that looked a bit on the harsh side and, although City added a second, it wasn’t a constant barrage of goal attempts in the first half.

After the break the home side continue to boss possession but Watford grew in confidence and when Giorgi Chakvetadze came on his direct running and pace caused problems.

When Tom Ince scored a curling beauty with four minutes to go there was still time for an equaliser and penalties, but the home side kept the Hornets out through that and a further four minutes of stoppage time.

Here’s how the action unfolded:

1 - Grealish breaks clear down the left, cuts the ball back but O'Reilly completely misses his kick.

4 – Man City 1 (Doku) Watford 0

Porteous under-hit a ball back to Bond, McAtee stole it, fed Grealish and he played it square for Doku to check past a tackle and slot into the corner. Tom said it was basic errors costing early goals. Certainly was this time.

12 - Nunes robs Bayo 35 yards out, moves forwards and shoots low but Bond saves comfortably.

16 - Foden curls a shot wide from just inside the box.

21 - Watford have the ball in the net as Baah fires home from a very tight angle but referee Mr Webb decided he had barged Braithwaite as he burst into the box.

37 – Man City 2 (Nunes) Watford 0

A series of very neat and intricate passes around the Watford box ends with Lewis feeding Nunes just inside the box and he created enough space to send an extremely precise shot between Bond and the post.

45 - Larouci crosses from the left and Bayo gets across Walker to head just wide of the near post.

Half-time – Man City 2 Watford 0

55 - Grealish was fouled just outside the box but City played in and Foden broke into the area where Bond spread himself well to block.

62 - Chakvetadze corner headed up in the air at the back post by Walker and Louza volleyed the loose ball just wide.

63 - Bond makes a fine stop to deny Nunes, the ball runs loose in the box and, after a scramble, Savinho hammers a shot towards goal which Ince heads off the line.

66 - Chakvetadze steals the ball from Foden just outside his own box and then drives deep into the City half before sliding the ball to Baah on the left. He cuts in but fires wide of the near post.

70 - Grealish clever ball into the area for Nunes but Bond dashes off his line to block.

71 - Foden tries his luck on the run from 25 yards but Bond saves well.

71 - Great break out from City ends with Savinho surging into the box and sending a low shot against the back post.

81 - Bond makes a fine stop to deny Grealish from close-range after a Savinho low cross.

86 – Man City 2 Watford 1 (Ince 86)

Chakvetadze broke, he and Vata combined, the ball ran to Ince on the right and he checked inside and curled a fine finish past Ortega.

Full-time – Man City 2 Watford 1

Watford: Bond; Porteous, Ogbonna, Morris; Ebosele (Pollock 74), Larouci (Dele-Bashiru 60), Ince, Louza (Dwomoh 82), Sema, Bayo (Chakvetadze 60), Baah (Vata 74). Subs: Marriott, Tikvic, Doumbia, Adu-Poku