The unpredictable Premier League championship fight took another twist on Saturday as both Manchester City and Arsenal suffered surprise losses.
The sides, who had been level at the top of the table before the weekend action, both had disappointing days as Arsenal were beaten 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion before Manchester City – bidding for a third title in five years – were beaten 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium by Liverpool.
The consequence was Leicester City moved to top spot thanks to their 3-0 win at Newcastle United, with Manchester United also leapfrogging the pair thanks to their 2-1 triumph at Watford.
City were undone by a dire opening 32 minutes as they fell three goals behind because they were unable to cope with the counter-attacking of Jurgen Klopp’s side, with Liverpool claiming their first league win at City since October 2008.
An own goal by Eliaquim Mangala after seven minutes had put Liverpool ahead, before Philippe Coutinho’s low shot doubled the advantage in the 23rd minute.
Coutinho then turned creator nine minutes later as he ran on to Emre Can’s inspired backheel to square the ball for Roberto Firmino to tap into an empty net.
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Sergio Aguero, playing his first game in a month after recovering from a hamstring injury, had given Manuel Pellegrini’s side hope as he pulled a goal back just before the interval with a curling shot from outside the box.
Liverpool coped well with what City threw at them in the second half, and they added further salt to the home side’s wound as Martin Skrtel fired home a fourth with nine minutes to go after the ball had bounced loose from an uncleared corner.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger called his side’s loss at West Brom a “nightmare” afternoon.
They had taken the lead through Olivier Giroud’s header, but West Brom had levelled through a James Morrison volley before an own goal from Mikel Arteta had put Tony Pulis’s side ahead.
Despite dominating the second half, the London side could not find an equaliser, with their efforts summed up as Santi Cazorla slipped and sliced a late penalty over the bar after Alexis Sanchez had been felled in the box.
“It was a very bad afternoon for us,” Wenger said. “We had 70 per cent possession, we scored an own goal, we missed a penalty, we gave away a goal from a set-piece. That is perfect to make the afternoon a nightmare.
“We missed open-goal chances. I believe West Brom did fight with 100 per cent commitment as well and you have to give them credit for that.”
Wenger was frustrated that having got their noses in front his side managed to slip to their third league defeat of the season and miss out on the chance to go to the top of the table outright as they aim to win the title for the first time since 2003/04.
“At 1-0 we had just to make sure they did not come back with an easy goal and that’s where we were guilty, because apart from that I cannot fault the team who gave what they could until the last minute,” he added.
“We produced enough to win the game.”
To inflict further misery on Arsenal, both Arteta and Francis Coquelin had to be substituted with injury during the game.
Tony Pulis, the West Brom manager, said he was relieved to have survived Arsenal’s second-half onslaught to pick up the three points.
“There’s been games here this year where we’ve been disappointed because we’ve lost,” he said. “I thought Arsenal were very good, particularly second half when they ramped it up.”
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