Manchester City delivered a shattering statement of intent in the headline act of gameweek six, bouncing back from their shock defeat at Norwich City last weekend to produce a club-record 8-0 evisceration of Watford at the Etihad.
Despite chalking up the Premier League's second-biggest ever victory, the champions remain five points adrift of leaders Liverpool, who made it six wins from six with a 2-1 triumph over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues were by no means the only top-four hopefuls to suffer a disappointing weekend, though, with Manchester United losing at West Ham United and Leicester City firing another reminder of their top-six ambitions by beating Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal seemed to be heading towards a similar fate when they were behind against Aston Villa and down to 10 men, but a late double rescued victory from the jaws of defeat at the Emirates.
That result leaves Villa in the relegation zone, with only basement club Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers below them - the latter still winless this season following their late 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Bournemouth picked up their first ever top-flight win away to near-neighbours Southampton on Friday night, while there were good wins too for Burnley and Sheffield United against Norwich and Everton respectively.
The only goalless draw of the round came at St James' Park, where Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion played out an uninspiring stalemate.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek six.
In a week with an 8-0 win in the Premier League it is no surprise to see the side who inflicted that punishment dominate this XI, and Man City are rewarded for their eight goals with eight players in the team.
The sea of sky blue begins in goal, where Ederson still had to make four saves to keep his side's clean sheet intact, as well as providing his usual base of beginning attacks from the very back. The likes of Adrian, Aaron Ramsdale and Lukasz Fabianski all deserve mentions, but Ederson still managed to play a big role despite the vast majority of the action taking place at the other end of the field.
It is in defence where other clubs get a look-in this week, including Sheffield United's Jack O'Connell. The Blades may not get many better results this season than their 2-0 triumph at Goodison Park, and all of their back three were central to something of a smash-and-grab performance. O'Connell in particular held Everton's aerial assault at bay, winning at match-high 10 aerial duels.
West Ham were also impressive 2-0 winners against Manchester United, with Aaron Cresswell making sure of the points with a stunning late free kick. The left-back's attacking contribution added to a valuable clean sheet, albeit against a United attack which failed to offer the sort of threat expected from a top-four hopeful.
On the opposite flank, Ricardo Pereira was also on the scoresheet during an upset against top-four hopefuls, netting the equaliser for Leicester and putting in an all-round performance which just saw him pip Trent Alexander-Arnold to a place in the team.
The likes of Nathan Ake, John Egan, Lewis Dunk, Fabian Schar, Mark Noble, N'Golo Kante, John McGinn, John Lundstram, James Maddison and Chris Wood all deserve mentions throughout the rest of the XI, but from hereon in it is all Man City.
Nicolas Otamendi's goal completes a defensive quartet which stood out as much for their attacking exploits as their defensive performances, having scored City's fifth after just 18 minutes against Watford.
Rodri was another of City's more defence-minded players to put in a fine performance in the demolition job, but naturally it was the attackers who gained most of the plaudits, and none more so than Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian has arguably been City's standout player so far this term and was awarded man of the match for his performance despite 'only' getting one goal and two assists - a return not quite as impressive as some ahead of him. Nonetheless, Watford simply could not cope with De Bruyne at times and he was the chief puppet-master in a display which will go down in Premier League folklore.
David Silva has played that role on plenty of occasions during his illustrious career and got the ball rolling with the opener inside the first minute - the quickest Premier League goal of the season - but it was his namesake Bernardo Silva who ended up taking the match ball home courtesy of his first hat-trick.
It speaks volumes for the level of the overall performance that even Bernardo's treble was not enough to make him the undisputed star of the show at the Etihad, and his forward partners Sergio Aguero and Riyad Mahrez also put in memorable performances.
Both players scored one, created another and hit the woodwork in the rout, with Aguero being denied by the frame of the goal on two occasions and Mahrez once - another indication that the eight-goal haul did not flatter City.
Barney Corkhill
