Manchester City opened up a commanding five-point lead at the top of the Premier League as Ilkay Gundogan scored twice in a 4-1 victory at Liverpool for whom keeper Alisson endured a Monday (NZ time) afternoon to forget.
An emphatic win, City's 10th in a row in the league and first at Anfield since 2003, moved Pep Guardiola's side to 50 points from 22 games, five more than second-placed Manchester United who have played a game more.
Gundogan missed a first-half penalty but made up for that by firing City ahead four minutes after the break only for Mohamed Salah to equalise from the spot just past the hour mark, Liverpool's first goal at home this year.
City then had a John Stones goal ruled out before they were gifted two goals in three minutes by Alisson.
First he passed straight to Phil Foden who showed great composure to set up Gundogan to restore City's lead, then Raheem Sterling made it 3-1 after another dreadful error by Alisson.
It got even worse for champions Liverpool as the excellent Foden added a superb fourth goal in the 83rd minute.
Fourth-placed Liverpool are now 10 points behind City and their title defence is in tatters.
Chelsea beat Sheffield Utd to extend bounce-back under Tuchel
Chelsea took another step in their recovery under new coach Thomas Tuchel when they beat bottom side Sheffield United 2-1 thanks to a strike by Mason Mount and a penalty by Jorginho, with Germany's Timo Werner involved in both goals.
The away win - the third in four games since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard - pushed the Blues up to fifth in the Premier League table, just one point behind out-of-form Liverpool who occupy the last of the Champions League qualification spots.
Mount set the Londoners on their way to victory two minutes before halftime when Werner sprinted free on the left and provided an inch-perfect cut-back for the England midfielder to convert with a first-time shot from 12 yards.
Sheffield United got back in the game when Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger misjudged the position of his goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and tapped the ball past him into an empty net in the 54th minute.
But Werner's pace immediately stretched the hosts once again as he raced on to a wayward pass and was brought down by Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale for a penalty that was converted by Jorginho after 58 minutes.
Werner's role in the two goals represented another sign that the German is recovering his confidence although he has yet to score in the league since Nov. 7 when he bagged a goal against Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge.
In the early games, Harry Kane scored on his return from injury to help Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion and end a three-match losing run in the Premier League.
The England skipper's return after missing the last two games with an ankle injury was sooner than expected and Tottenham's talisman was quickly back in the groove.
After missing a couple of chances in the first half Kane struck in the 54th minute to move joint second on Tottenham's all-time scoring list alongside Bobby Smith with 208 goals.
Four minutes later Son Heung-min drove in Tottenham's second after a strong run by recalled Lucas Moura.
Tottenham moved up to seventh place with 36 points from 22 games, above Chelsea on goal difference before their match against bottom club Sheffield United later.
Sam Allardyce's West Brom are 19th with 12 points from 23 games, 11 points below 17th-placed Burnley, and their hopes of avoiding relegation are looking forlorn.
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City shared the spoils in a 0-0 Premier League draw on Sunday as both teams showed plenty of attacking intent but lacked an end product.
Leicester, who started the year with three wins to boost their title challenge, have now won only once in their last four games and stayed third in the standings with 43 points.
Wolves, who have won once in their last 10 matches, remained 14th on 27 points but manager Nuno Espirito Santo saw positives.
"It was a good performance. It was a tough game against a good team, we had chances," Nuno told Sky Sports.
"We're trying to stabilise the team so we can progress.
"We have a lot of players out, trying to be compact and I'm proud of the way they committed to playing a good team in possession."
Reuters
