Manchester City’s glorious procession towards the Premier League title can have the coronation it deserves. Victory number 27 was delivered in style and comfort at Everton to leave Pep Guardiola’s team one win from a third championship in seven seasons. The Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium next Saturday could realise a dream for the blue half of the city, the stuff of nightmares for the red.

A Champions League quarter-final first leg at Liverpool beckons before then but City were not distracted from completing a clean sweep of triumphs over Premier League sides this season as they brushed aside Sam Allardyce’s team at Goodison Park. David Silva was magnificent, Fernandinho imperious and Leroy Sané, Gabriel Jesus plus Raheem Sterling scored before half-time to extend City’s haul to a remarkable 84 points from 31 matches. No other team has collected so many points at this stage of a season. Few have cruised towards a championship in such style. Securing the title with victory over José Mourinho’s United would be a fitting way to complete a campaign of total domestic dominance.

“Manchester United, Arsenal but after that, no,” said Allardyce, when asked whether he had witnessed a better Premier League side than the champions-elect. “You try to do something to stop them but they can play around anything. That’s the beauty of this team. Brilliant. I’m gutted, but they were brilliant.” They were also sportingly applauded off by a home crowd that heard their manager call for belief before kick-off only for their team to play without any. Everton appeared resigned to chasing maroon shadows from the start. With good reason too: they were comprehensively outplayed by a vastly superior team and two goals down inside 12 minutes, both as a result of devastatingly swift and precise City attacks.

The visitors set course for victory – Guardiola’s first over Everton – with 238 seconds on the clock. Silva was the architect and, in doing so, became the third City player to reach double figures for assists this season after Kevin De Bruyne (15) and Sané (11). Silva’s immaculate touch and awareness were evident as he found Aymeric Laporte on the left. He immediately darted into the area and, taking a perfectly weighted return pass in his stride, lofted the ball to the back post where Sané volleyed beyond Jordan Pickford. The procession, the exhibition, was underway.

Guardiola had selected Laporte, the second-most expensive defender in world football, at left-back with Fabian Delph easing his way back from injury and Danilo on the substitutes’ bench. Everton had occasional joy when targeting the former Athletic Bilbao centre-half and it requires no stretch of the imagination to suspect Liverpool and Mohamed Salah will target that area with greater quality on Wednesday. City are unlikely to meet such passive, feeble and vulnerable opponents on their return to Merseyside.

Yannick Bolasie should have levelled when Dominic Calvert-Lewin escaped behind Laporte and crossed for the winger to head wastefully over. “The cruel turning point,” claimed Allardyce. Bolasie still had his head in his hands when City swept down the other end and doubled their lead.

Ederson drilled the resulting goal-kick to Sané in central midfield. The Germany international flicked the ball over Morgan Schneiderlin and cushioned a volley out to De Bruyne on the right. One glance across goal was enough for De Bruyne to know where Jesus was heading and, from another inch-perfect delivery, the Brazilian powered a header past Pickford at close range.

Goodison was witnessing a gulf in class but, even taking that into account, the home crowd did not disguise its displeasure at the lack of fight and organisation from those in royal blue. Silva, Sterling and Kyle Walker went close before City cut Everton apart once again with the speed and accuracy of their passing.

Raheem Sterling scores Manchester City’s third goal. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

Fernandinho, who would complete 62 passes in the first half (the entire Everton team completed 64), released Silva down the left and the Spaniard swept a low cross along the face of Everton’s recovering defence. Sterling sprinted ahead of Leighton Baines, making his 400th Premier League appearance, and gave the over-worked Pickford no chance with a powerful finish.

“We’ll win the league on derby day” sang the travelling faithful, and they were also able to revel in a rival’s misery in the present. Wayne Rooney enjoyed numerous successes against City during his Old Trafford career but this was an evening to endure. Deployed alongside fellow ex-United man Schneiderlin in central midfield the former England captain was repeatedly overrun before being withdrawn to his obvious disgust and the away section’s delight early in the second half. His replacement, Tom Davies, helped spark much-needed improvement.

It was Davies’s challenge that enabled the home side to retain possession and pressurise the City defence for the first time after the restart. Calvert-Lewin, switched from the No 10 role to central midfield, found Bolasie and his low drive crept beyond Ederson and in via the inside of a post.

Goodison briefly sensed a recovery, or at least something resembling a contest, but Guardiola’s gifted team quashed that notion by controlling the tempo and the ball. A class apart.