If one look at the Premier League table didn’t tell you already, what transpired on the pitch at the Etihad jStadium proved it.
Liverpool have left Manchester City trailing in their wake.
The defending Premier League champions were already out of the title race long before Sunday’s massive match
But City’s comprehensive 2-0 home defeat to runaway leaders Liverpool would still have been chastening.
It was the Reds’ first league win on the sky blue half of Manchester in nearly 10 years and it not only moved them 11 points clear at the top
Liverpool’s win also opened up a huge 20-point gap on fourth-placed City.
The result was never in doubt from the moment Mohamed Salah continued his remarkable season by finishing off a superbly worked corner routine.
City did dominate possession and there was little difference in the team’s respective xG (0.63 to 0.71).
But Arne Slot's side had complete control of the match and it felt as if the hosts could be playing now and they still would not have scored.
City winger Jeremy Doku, though, felt his team were every bit as good as the Reds.
Doku said:
“To be fair if I look at the game I don't think that they were much better than us. Two goals, one set-piece and the second goal was a long ball, so well done to them.
“We know their qualities and that they like to play in behind. They did well and after it is hard to come back against a team that defends well like that.
"We played well but the situations that we had we could have dealt better with them.
“Today we played better against them than we did away. Of course there is a gap in points but today you can't say that they ran over us."
City, who also lost the reverse fixture at Anfield 2-0, remain in fourth.
But they are now only four points clear of Brighton & Hove Albion in ninth as the race for the Champions League spots hots up.
Doku added:
“We tried. I had a lot of attacking situations but after the two goals that they scored they played very deep.
“They defended very well and then played on the counter attack so it was hard for us to find spaces. Some game are like that.
“We just have to keep on going and take the good things from the game.”
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