What a genius.

What else can you expect from such genius.

Paul Pogba could be forgiven for wondering what the fuss is all about with Manchester City. While Pep Guardiola's leaders lost their own unbeaten record this season, the Manchester United midfielder's run goes on. The 3-0 victory over Stoke on Monday Night Football made it nine wins and four draws for Pogba this season. It is a sequence that dates back to 2016.

Pogba is unbeaten in his last 35 Premier League matches, far more than any other player in the competition. Gabriel Jesus is the next man on the list with 28 games unbeaten. David Silva has gone 25 without losing. Pogba missed the home defeat to Manchester City and the losses at Huddersfield and Chelsea. But much more significantly, United missed him.

"The drop in performance in terms of the connection from defence to attack when he is not there is completely different with United," Gary Neville told Sky Sports. "My view of him is that he has the confidence, the arrogance and the personality to play for United. He wants the ball and they are a far better team when he is in there."

Those passages of play owed much to the team's finishing but for much of the contest it was Pogba's prompting that provided the incision that United needed against a spirited Stoke side. Of the 77 passes that he attempted, the assists were actually two of his more straightforward contributions. This was a masterclass with the ball at his feet.

Just before the second goal, there was the outrageous raking ball with his left foot from deep inside his own half. Soon after it, there was the right-footed pass to Martial that almost put his compatriot through again. In the early stages of the second half, his weighted through-ball to the same player carved open the visitors yet again.