Manchester City make title statement as Haaland leads rampant win over Liverpool

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Liverpool barely got a word out.The table looks a lot more appealing for Pep Guardiola and his players now, City just four points behind Arsenal and it was an occasion when they blew Liverpool away. They could shrug off the inconvenience of Erling Haaland missing a controversially awarded 13th minute penalty to put on a show of strength, particularly in the first-half.It was Haaland, inevitably, who opened the scoring with his 19th City goal of the season and, after Nico González had benefited from a deflection off Virgil van Dijk in stoppage time before the interval, the scene was set for the coup de grace.Jérémy Doku was almost unplayable at times, a blur of tricks and direct running and his goal for 3-0 was a beauty, a quick move inside before the perfectly executed curler with his right foot into the far corner.

They got away with the penalty when Giorgi Mamardashvili kept out Haaland’s kick but the real sickener was when Van Dijk had a header ruled out for 1-1 for an offside against Andy Robertson, who was too close to the City goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma.The decisions were not the reason why they lost. Mamardashvili read Haaland’s intentions and went to his left to save.City did not relent.

Then again, it was Haaland.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionLiverpool thought they had their lifeline when Van Dijk bullied Nunes on a corner, thumping his header into the far corner. And their wounds were salted when González tried his luck from distance and found that it was in, the shot deflecting off Van Dijk to leave Mamardashvili wrongfooted.Quick GuidePlay our new game: On the ballShowSlot had stuck with his back-to-basics approach, the same lineup – broadly – that he played in the victories over Aston Villa and Madrid which had given Liverpool optimism in the buildup.