Manuel Pellegrini changed personnel and formation at half-time because Watford “defended very well" in the first half, the Manchester City boss acknowledged after his side’s 2-0 win.

The home side started the game with their usual 4-2-3-1 formation but after they had been unable to break through the resolute Hornets in the opening period, Pellegrini opted to change things. Jesus Navas was taken off and replaced by Samir Nasri and Raheem Sterling was pushed into a more central attacking role alongside Sergio Aguero.

Within two minutes of the restart the move had paid off as Sterling got on the end of a Bacary Sagna cross to net his first City goal. The hosts then doubled their advantage nine minutes later with Fernandinho rifling home after latching onto David Silva’s incisive reverse pass to secure a club record tenth successive victory.

“I think we played this game exactly the same way as we played the other three games,” Pellegrini said afterwards. “It’s a very consistent team. We’ve had different rivals in the four games but we found the solution, especially today. In the first half we didn’t create many chances because Watford defended very well, that’s why we withdrew the player (Navas) so in that sense I’m very happy about that.”

Asked about the positive effect the substitution had, Pellegrini responded: “I think that was important at half time to make a change. We had a lot of possession of the ball in the first half but we didn’t create many chances because they were, especially against Aguero, against Sterling, they had very tight markers.

“Making that change with Nasri on the left side and more freedom for Silva on the right and playing Aguero with Raheem was the way we were trying to do it, at least in the first half when they didn’t know what we were going to do. So we changed.”