Manchester City are starting to click. This 4-0 demolition of West Ham United followed their 3-0 thumping of Crystal Palace on Saturday. They are probably playing the best football of Pep Guardiola’s reign: fast, attractive, inventive but above all balanced. And they are doing it all without their top player Sergio Aguero.

Guardiola left Aguero on the bench here, four days after leaving him out at Palace as well. Here, as then, he played Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling as his front three, the trio he keeps insisting, with good reason, are “the future” of the club. Here they were even better than they were then, slicing through West Ham with remarkable combined movement at speed. They share the same skills, playing like three different versions of the same footballer; fast, brave, clever and incisive. They combine with an understanding that is more instinctive than taught. Gabriel made the first goal, Sane made the second, and all three combined for the brilliant showcase third.

That goal was Gabriel’s first in English football and this was still his first Premier League start. But he already looks like a gem of a signing, City’s best in at least five years, perfectly suited both to English football and to how Guardiola wants the game to be played. Guardiola loves Gabriel’s aggression, his hassling of defenders, his thirst for 50-50s. Gabriel led the charge against West Ham’s back line, stopping them from playing long balls up to Andy Carroll. He was the best and most important player on the pitch.

David Silva finishes for City from close distance (Getty)

All of this Aguero had to watch from the bench and City were 4-0 up by the time he came on. It may be too early to say his time at City is up, but for the first time since City had Carlos Tevez, Aguero is no longer head and shoulders above the other strikers at the club. He will have to job-share with Gabriel for the rest of this season, and who can say what the club will decide in the summer?

That was not the only brave decision Guardiola made here. For the first time ever in the Premier League, he picked Willy Caballero ahead of Claudio Bravo in goal. It made perfect sense, after Caballero’s solid performance at Selhurst Park on Saturday. He is far better on crosses and on shots than Bravo, not that he needed to be here, give how little he had to do.

West Ham were, for the second time against City in less than one month, completely irrelevant. They lost 5-0 here in the FA Cup and 4-0 here. Slaven Bilic said this was a “copy and paste” from that game. If anything his team were in this game less, shut down by City’s pressing and powerless to stop their unstoppable attacking.

Gabriel Jesus shined in his first Premier League start for City (AFP/Getty Images)

And yet despite that West Ham still gave City the perfect helping hand into the game. The rout started when Aaron Cresswell played a blind square pass across to Kevin De Bruyne, who picked up the ball on the half-way line. He drove forward, passed out to Gabriel, took the first-time and tucked it into the bottom corner.

The next time City won it in the middle, Sterling found De Bruyne who moved it to Sane on the left, one on one with a full-back who had no legal means of stopping him. He nutmegged Sam Byram, powered past Fonte and squared to the far post where Silva tapped it in.

Sometimes this season City have got complacent but here they continued to push. Another move through Gabriel and Sterling ended with De Bruyne scuffing his finish but this time it did not matter. With the next action City scored the third and ended the game. Sane passed across to Sterling, darting in behind, just onside. He passed back to Gabriel, crucially just behind play, and he rolled in his first goal in English football. He looked like he had been scoring goals with Sane and Sterling for City for years already.

Slaven Bilic endured another difficult night at the London Stadium (Getty)

The second half was never going to be as good for City as the first. They stayed patient and kept the ball, not wasting energy when they still have three competitions to play in for the rest of the season.

City were waiting for West Ham to open themselves up, but as soon as they did, City darted in and scored a fourth. De Bruyne had the ball all the way out on the right hand side and saw a space behind Winston Reid with Sterling running into it. So De Bruyne curled in a perfect pass and Sterling race onto it, squaring up Fonte. Sterling chopped back inside, drawing the foul and going down. Toure took the penalty and there was never any question that he would score it.

That was the end of that and after Aguero came on City saw out the win very comfortably. They are still fifth in the table but they are just one point behind Spurs and Arsenal in second and third. But City look to have the form and the momentum, and if anyone will pull away to ensure Champions League football, City will.

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Randolph; Bryam, Fonte, Reid, Cresswell; Noble, Obiang; Feghouli, Antonio, Lanzini; Carroll

City (4-3-3): Caballero; Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Toure, Silva, De Bruyne; Sterling, Gabriel, Sane

MoM: Gabriel