Manchester City produced a sparkling performance as they powered past Premier League champions Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad Arena on Sunday.
Erling Haaland made up for missing an early penalty by putting City into a 29th minute lead with a brilliant header, taking the Norwegian's league tally for the season to 14 in 11 games.
It was 2-0 in first-half injury time when Nico Gonzalez's strike from distance took a big enough deflection off Virgil van Dijk to leave Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili wrong-footed.
The third and final goal was scored by winger Jeremy Doku whose curling finish was the icing on the cake of a man-of-the-match performance from the Belgian.
It was a dominant night's work from City whose manager Pep Guardiola marked his 1,000th match as a manager with a win which lifted his side up second in the table, four points behind leaders Arsenal, who conceded a last-gasp equaliser in their 2-2 draw at Sunderland on Saturday.
“Obviously very happy for [Guardiola],” said City defender Ruben Dias. “We live for games like this. There is no higher level than this kind of level. Everyone did a great game.
“We need to push all of us. Everyone, myself, we need to push everyone. The amazing game [Doku] did, the sprint Haaland did to compensate.
“I remember before I came to this club and watching this club – these were the details that made them win so much.
“Differences of everyone ready to show up and ready to sacrifice for the guy next to him.
“This is not new, this has been going on for a while now. We have been talking about a rebuild since last season.
“Yes, of course, there are new faces because of the ones that left, but that quality stays the same, and we keep on pushing.
“It is still early in the season, feet on the ground.”
City's seventh win in their last eight games in all competitions was another major blow to Liverpool's hopes of retaining the title.
The troubled champions have lost seven of their last 10 matches in all competitions and trail Arsenal by eight points.
They are marooned in eighth place after the momentum from successive wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid dissipated into the rainy Manchester air.
Haaland squandered a golden opportunity to put City ahead in the 12th minute when VAR ruled Doku was tripped by Liverpool goalkeeper Mamardashvili just inside the penalty area.
Mamardashvili made amends as he dived to his left to save Haaland's spot-kick.
But Haaland was unfazed by his miss and the Norwegian put City in front in the 29th minute.
At the climax of a flowing 20-pass move that carried City from deep inside their own half, Matheus Nunes crossed towards Haaland, who rose above Ibrahima Konate to head home from 10 yards.
It was Haaland's 99th Premier League goal since signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. He has scored 19 times in 15 games in all competitions for City this season, netting in all but two matches.
Virgil van Dijk's headed equaliser late in the first half was disallowed by VAR for offside against Andrew Robertson. “In football the officials are deciding the key decisions and we have to deal with it on the pitch,” said van Dijk.
“There is no point discussing this from my point of view. The reality is that we lost 3-0 and that is a big blow.”
Gonzalez then rubbed salt into their wounds in first half stoppage-time. Given time and space by Liverpool's flat-footed defence, Gonzalez unloaded a long-range drive that deflected in off Van Dijk.
Doku delivered the knockout blow when he curled a superb strike past Mamardashvili from 25 yards in the 63rd minute.
