London: Manchester City thumped Liverpool 4-1 even without goal machine Erling Haaland in their ranks but Arsenal took another step towards a first Premier League title in nearly 20 years as they matched the champions with a 4-1 win over Leeds United on Saturday.

While the title race gathered pace on the resumption of the top flight after the international break, the relegation battle becomes more intriguing by the week with Leicester City the latest side to fall into the bottom three.

With Haaland, who has scored 42 goals in 37 matches in all competitions for City, sidelined with a groin injury, his side looked in big trouble when Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool an early lead at The Etihad Stadium.

But Pep Guardiola's side responded in emphatic fashion with Julian Alvarez levelling before halftime.

Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish were all on target in the second half as City dismantled Juergen Klopp's side whose hopes of a top-four finish suffered another blow as they ended the day in eighth place.

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne scores their second against Liverpool. Photo: Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne scores their second against Liverpool. Photo: Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

It meant City had cut Arsenal's lead to five points before the Gunners kicked off but any hopes they had of ending the weekend closer to the Londoners were dashed as their former forward Gabriel Jesus got back on the scoresheet.

Jesus, given his first league start since returning from a knee injury last month, fired in a first-half penalty against Leeds for his first goal for six months.

Ben White made it 2-0 just after halftime and Jesus then grabbed his second of the day from a Leandro Trossard assist.

Rasmus Kristensen's deflected shot gave Leeds a 76th-minute lifeline but Granit Xhaka's header secured another three points in Arsenal's quest for a first title since 2004.

Arsenal's seventh successive league win moved them to 72 points from 29 games with City, who still have to play the London club at home, on 64 having played one game less.

"What we can control is what we can do. After the international break there was a few tricky situations to manage but everybody wanted to be involved," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters.

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