A BANNER hangs from the East Stand at the Etihad proclaiming how, on the sixth day, God created Manchester City. On the seventh, eighth and ninth days he presumably created Kevin De Bruyne, Nolito and Raheem Sterling. And found time in his busy schedule to spawn Pep Guardiola.

Cherries were partly the architects of their own downfall in East Manchester, for the second season in a row, yet how hard it must be to prepare to face a team playing the kind of penetrative football we have not really seen before in the Premier League. This is a Manchester City team far superior to the one that beat Cherries 5-1 here last season. Scant consolation for Eddie Howe, but consolation nonetheless on an afternoon where any chinks of positivity will do.

Howe can take solace, also, in the fact his side were also much better than in last season’s mauling at the Etihad. Joshua King ploughed a lone furrow but certainly had the running of both Bacary Sagna and Nicolas Otamendi at times. Had Jack Wilshere been able to get into the game more in the first half, in the forward thinking midfield position, King, perhaps, would have capped his performance with a goal.

Guardiola surprised the press pack post-match when he said Cherries were the best side in possession City had faced this season. Perhaps that was a swipe at the other team in the city of Manchester, perhaps not. But during the rare moments Cherries did have the ball here, they had a degree of potency of their own. Harry Arter looked to get forward, King ran the channels. But there was little end product and, even when they did breach City’s half, Cherries were often on the back foot again so quickly, their thinking was scrambled.

For Wilshere, any hopes that he would be the man to ignite Howe’s side here were quickly extinguished by City’s enforcers. Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan were impenetrable.

What we are witnessing from this Manchester City team is unique in its ability and quality. A creation of a new art form. Some might say it is a renaissance of Barcelona under Guardiola, but it is far more cogent than that. If Barcelona played ‘Total Football’ under Guardiola then what is the word for this?

City attack with such force, such potency and such pace that there is surely not a team in the country able to withstand it. Not one.

They go through the middle with De Bruyne and Gundogan or flank to flank with Sterling and Nolito spreading themselves wide in attack and tightening up when the opposition is in possession. They press hard and high to win the ball and, after 45 minutes, Cherries looked broken. The ferocity in their play, with and without the ball, is of a level that, if they can maintain it, will surely win them the Premier League title.

For everyone else, their task is catching up. Or, perhaps, simply working out a way to stop them.