Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool: Guardiola's men thrash Reds despite Haaland absence

Manchester City put pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race with a convincing 4-1 win against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.

Defending champions City were without the injured Erling Haaland but goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish saw them emphatically respond 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 later on Saturday as City clinched their 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 in fourth.

53 – Kevin De Bruyne's goal after 53 seconds is the earliest Liverpool have conceded in the second half of a Premier League game since Sylvain Distin netted after just 40 seconds for Everton in January 2011. Blow. pic.twitter.com/ncWr3R9X2d

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023

It was Liverpool who went in front in the 17th minute as they 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 onto 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 following a neat one-two with De Bruyne to wrap up an ominous performance as far as Arsenal will be concerned.