Manchester City opened up a five-point lead at the top of the table with a seventh straight Premier League victory, but was made to work for a 2-1 win at Watford on Tuesday.

City's goals came either side of half-time as Leroy Sane chested home to end Watford's resistance before Riyad Mahrez swept home early in the second period. However, they had to withstand a nervy finish after Abdoulaye Doucoure bundled home five minutes from time.

Pep Guardiola made six changes to his starting line-up despite also missing Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne through injury.

Yet, City were still far too strong for the dogged hosts, who had goalkeeper Ben Foster to thank for the visitors not racking up the 5-0 and 6-0 thrashings they did on their two previous visits to Vicarage Road.

Guardiola changed his entire back four from Saturday's 3-1 win over Bournemouth and left the in-form Raheem Sterling on the bench for the full 90 minutes.

Mahrez came in for the England international and the luxury of options on offer to Guardiola was obvious as both his wide men found the net in Sterling's absence.

However, Watford were left to rue their chances before the break against a City defence that appeared to miss Aymeric Laporte as the Frenchman was rotated for the first time in the league this season.

City got uncharacteristically slack in the final quarter, though, and were made to pay when Doucoure finally turned home after a goalmouth scramble.

Guardiola was forced to throw on Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi in the closing stages to repel Watford's aerial assault, but City held on.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth moved above Manchester United, who host Arsenal on Wednesday, up to sixth thanks to a 2-1 win over Huddersfield.

Brighton edged into the top half as despite playing for over an hour with 10 men, they beat Crystal Palace 3-1.