City thrashes Liverpool as Haaland sits it out
Manchester City put pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race with a convincing 4-1 win against Liverpool at Etihad Stadium despite the absence of top scorer Erling Haaland.
Defending champion City found goals without the injured Haaland from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish, responding emphatically to Mohamed Salah's early opener.
The win closed the gap at the top to five points ahead of Arsenal's game against Leeds United as City clinched a fourth league win in a row.
It was the latest blow to Liverpool's hopes of clinching a top-four spot, with Jurgen Klopp's men staying five points behind Newcastle United in fifth and seven behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth.
It was Liverpool that went in front in the 17th minute as it played out from the back before Trent Alexander-Arnold's long ball found Diogo Jota, who raced through and held off Manuel Akanji before Salah ran on to the loose ball and smashed it into the net.
That lead lasted just 10 minutes as a neat move from City ended with Gundogan playing in Grealish down the left and he provided a low cross for Alvarez to execute a simple finish past Alisson.
It took less than a minute of the second half for City to go ahead as a long ball was played out to Riyad Mahrez, who played an inch-perfect ball across from the right to De Bruyne for a tap-in.
The third was not far behind as Gundogan put away a close-range finish after good work from Alvarez, while Grealish added a fourth after a neat one-two with De Bruyne to wrap up an ominous performance as far as Arsenal will be concerned.
