Manchester City equalled the record for consecutive wins in the Premier League with their 14th in a row on December 10, 2017.
Pep Guardiola’s side achieved the milestone in style with a 2-1 victory over neighbours Manchester United at Old Trafford.
City opened up an eye-watering double-digit lead over their local rivals after Nicolas Otamendi fired Guardiola’s men to a derby win.
The much-anticipated 175th Manchester derby was comfortably the biggest game of the Premier League season to that point, such was the need for Jose Mourinho’s Reds to claw back their swashbuckling rivals.
But the gap between table-topping City and second-placed United grew to 11 points, with Otamendi volleying home a second-half winner after Marcus Rashford had cancelled out David Silva’s opener.
The untimely end to United’s club record-equalling 40-match unbeaten home run strengthened their rivals’ grip on the title after just 16 matches, the last 14 won in succession.
That set a new top-flight record run within the same season and meant City emulated Arsenal’s achievement from the end of the 2001-02 season and the start of 2002-03.
Guardiola said: “You cannot be champions in December but I am happy because people said in England, you cannot play that way, but in England you can play in that way as well.”
Silva gave City a deserved first-half lead as he capitalised on a corner that had deflected off Romelu Lukaku.
United fortuitously went into the break level after Rashford took advantage of an error from Fabian Delph, but the blue half of the city were not to be denied as Lukaku’s poor clearance allowed Otamendi to volley home early in the second half.
City would extend their streak to 18 matches with wins over Swansea, Tottenham, Bournemouth and Newcastle before being held to a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on New Year’s Eve.
They went on to become the first side to accumulate 100 points in a top-flight season in England, finishing 19 clear of United.
