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Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Sunday opened the door for the teams that have split the last eight titles between them, and City's best performance of the campaign resulted in a statement victory.

Erling Haaland had an early penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, who had conceded the spot-kick by catching livewire winger Jeremy Doku with his left knee.

But Haaland did find the net in the 29th minute, heading Matheus Nunes' right-wing cross home to cap a flowing move from the host.

Liverpool thought it was level when Virgil van Dijk nodded in from Mohamed Salah's corner, but the flag was raised against Andy Robertson – who was deemed to be in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma – and that decision was confirmed by VAR.

Van Dijk was involved at the other end three minutes into first-half stoppage time, as Nico Gonzalez's strike deflected in off the Liverpool captain.

Liverpool briefly threatened a fightback early in the second half, with substitute Cody Gakpo somehow turning Conor Bradley's centre over a gaping goal.

But its hopes of a comeback were extinguished by the outstanding Doku in the 63rd minute, as the Belgian skipped inside Ibrahima Konate before arrowing a shot into the top-right corner.

Dominik Szoboszlai tested Donnarumma from distance and Salah missed a good one-on-one chance, while Nico O'Reilly also went close on two occasions, as City eased over the line.

While City returns to second in the table ahead of the international break, Liverpool are down in eighth, having already suffered five Premier League defeats this season.