17th straight win for City

Chelsea held; Arsenal rally to hold Liverpool

Manchester City racked up a 17th consecutive Premier League victory after Sergio Aguero's 100th and 101st Etihad Stadium goals inspired a 4-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.

Aguero scored twice and set up Raheem Sterling as Pep Guardiola's side made it 18 wins and one draw in the first half of the season and provisionally opened up a 14-point lead at the top of the table.

Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at improving Everton, while bottom club Swansea City started life without sacked manager Paul Clement by drawing 1-1 at home to Crystal Palace.

Manchester City are now two wins away from equalling the record for consecutive wins in Europe's top five leagues, which was set by Guardiola's Bayern Munich in 2013-14.

They have already become the first team to score 100 goals in the English top flight in a calendar year since Liverpool in 1982.

City manager Guardiola welcomed back Vincent Kompany from injury and David Silva, who had missed their two previous games due to personal reasons, and saw his side take a 27th-minute lead.

Aguero met Fernandinho's cross with a diving header to bring up a century of goals in front of City's fans since his 2011 move from Atletico Madrid.

The Argentina striker's dinked pass set up Sterling to smash home City's second goal -- and his 16th of the season -- in the 53rd minute before Aguero headed in his second.

City substitute Danilo completed the scoring late on, rubber-stamping a victory that sent Bournemouth into the relegation zone.

Everton continued their improvement under new manager Sam Allardyce by extending their unbeaten run to six league games with a dogged 0-0 draw at home to champions Chelsea.

Joe Allen starred as Stoke City registered a timely 3-1 win over second-bottom West Bromwich Albion to ease some of the pressure on manager Mark Hughes.

Newcastle United climbed out of the relegation zone after ending a run of nine league games without victory by edging West Ham United 3-2 in an entertaining encounter at London Stadium.

Liverpool survived an incredible Arsenal fightback as Roberto Firmino rescued a thrilling 3-3 draw in a strong contender for the Premier League's game of the season on Friday.

Philippe Coutinho's first half opener and Mohamed Salah's strike after the interval appeared to have put Liverpool on course for an early Christmas present at the Emirates Stadium. But Arsenal hit back in stunning style with three goals in five minutes from Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil.