Riyad Mahrez scores the winner as Man City move above Liverpool to top the table

The former Leicester man put Pep Guardiola’s title chasers out of their agony five minutes after the break.

Oleksandr Zinchenko played the ball in to David Silva who set-up Mahrez to beat Cherries goalkeeper Artur Boruc at his near post with a toe-poke.

And wasn’t Pep a relieved man after watching his boys enjoy 83 per cent possession in a one-sided first half which resulted in just one shot on target.

But the home side could at least take some comfort from their defensive tactics after conceding 30 goals in their previous ten games against a top-six side.

And they denied England ace Raheem Sterling a goal, too, after seeing the winger score in all of his previous six meetings with the south coast club.

The nearest he got to grabbing his ninth goal against the Cherries arrived on 65 minutes when his low shot was pushed around the post by Boruc.

Boruc later denied Sterling again when he raced from goal to fist the ball away from the on-rushing winger following Jack Simpson’s back header.

But the Polish stopper was beaten hands down by Sergio Aguero’s 81st minute cross which crashed down off the bar the wrong side of the line.

This certainly wasn’t a match that was good on the eye but the good news was that it produced a vital win for City in their fight with Liverpool for the crown.

But the bad news for City came right on the break when Kevin de Bruyne pulled a muscle and immediately walked off.

That however allowed Mahrez to enter the fray and end City’s frustrations with his 11th goal of the campaign-and what an important one it was too.

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