Manchester City have won four consecutive games for the first time this season after a comprehensive 3-0 triumph over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
After watching Arsenal drop points late on in their 2-2 draw against Sunderland, both Liverpool and City were seeking to close the gap at the top of the Premier League table.
The game began on an attritional note as neither side was able to gather any attacking momentum early on.
After a mix-up at the back involving Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley, Jeremy Doku seized control of possession and found himself in on goal before Giorgio Mamardashvilli brought him down.
Following some intervention from the Video Assistant Referee, City were awarded a spot kick and up stepped Erling Haaland with a chance to break the deadlock.
However, the in-form Norwegian was denied by Mamardashvilli, keeping the scores level after 13 minutes.
Despite the disappointment of having missed a penalty, Pep Guardiola’s men remained in the ascendancy and were inches away from taking the lead when Ryan Cherki saw an effort deflected just over.
Perhaps City’s best player of the opening stages of the contest, Doku called Mamardashvilli into action in the 26th minute with a near-post drive.
Haaland made up for his penalty miss just shy of the half-hour mark with a lovely header to give City the lead after a delightful cross from Matheus Nunes.
Still searching for their first Premier League goal from a corner this term, Liverpool thought they had managed to end that run when Virgil van Dijk headed home Mohamed Salah’s inswinging delivery, only for the goal to be disallowed.
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Andy Robertson was adjudged to have interfered with play from an offside position despite his best attempts to get out of the way.
After narrowly surviving a huge scare at the other end, City doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time via a stroke of luck as Nico Gonzalez’s effort took a deflection off Van Dijk, which wrong-footed Mamardashvilli.
That wrapped up an impressive first half for the hosts and left the visitors with a mountain to climb if they were to avoid a fourth consecutive away defeat in the league.
With a two-goal deficit to make up, Arne Slot’s side kicked off the second half with more purpose but were unable to get any tangible reward.
Picking up where he left off in the opening 45 minutes, Doku continued to terrorise the Liverpool backline and drew a fine stop out of Mamardashvilli.
Nico nearly went from hero to villain as the midfielder was inches away from scoring an own goal.
Moments after coming on as a substitute, Cody Gakpo had a glorious opportunity to pull one back but skied his effort from point-blank range, albeit with the angle slightly against him.
Liverpool were made to pay for that missed chance in the 63rd minute when City extended their lead even further thanks to a wicked curler from Doku.
Now in full control of proceedings, City could afford to sit back and soak up the pressure, with Liverpool forced to throw caution to the wind.
Having cut a peripheral figure for large spells of the clash, Salah fluffed a decent chance to get himself on the score sheet 11 minutes from time.
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Down the other end, Nico O’Reilly blazed an effort over the bar to let Liverpool off the hook after the defending champions were cut through with relative ease.
With nothing at stake again, the clash headed into three stoppage-time minutes during which Phil Foden had the final crack at goal, albeit with little threat posed.
Following their most impressive win of the season, City are now just four points behind leaders Arsenal, while Liverpool have a mountain to climb in their quest to secure back-to-back titles having now fallen eight points behind.