Liverpool beat Man City 2-0 to move nine points clear

Liverpool are in control of the English Premier League title race. Manchester City are in free fall.

A 2-0 win against City on Sunday moved Liverpool nine points clear at the top of the standings and 11 ahead of Pep Guardiola's four-time defending champions.

Goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah exposed the gap between the title rivals and emphasised the deepening crisis for Guardiola, whose serial title winners languish fifth in the standings.

"We weren't perfect, but we came close to perfection and that's the only way you can beat a quality team like City," Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said.

It's now seven games without a win for City in all competitions, including six losses during that run.

The latest defeat at Anfield could have been even more emphatic, with Virgil van Dijk hitting the post and Salah missing the target when through on goal in a game which Liverpool totally dominated.

The home crowd mocked Guardiola, chanting he would be fired in the morning. With his team unable to respond, it was left to him to hold up six fingers in reference to the six league titles he has won in seven years during a period of unprecedented domestic dominance.

"Maybe they're right, that I must be sacked (fired) for the results we have, but I didn't expect (that) in Anfield," Guardiola said. "It's fine. It's part of the game. I understand completely and accept it. We had incredible, incredible battles together."

City's dominance looks increasingly likely to come to an end this season, with Guardiola enduring the worst losing streak of his managerial career and Liverpool looking a potential champion after such an impressive start under Slot.

It's 11 wins from 13 games in the league for Slot, whose team also leads the Champions League standings.

Victory against City came days after beating European champions Real Madrid by the same score line and having already seen off German champion Bayer Leverkusen 4-0.

"I don't think anyone including me would have predicted this," Slot said of his team's start to the campaign.

Guardiola has now lost four straight league games for the first time as a manager, Premier League stat supplier Opta said. The last time City lost four in a row in the league was 2008, Opta said.

AMORIM EFFECT

Ruben Amorim got Manchester United fans smiling again after a 4-0 win against Everton.

In his first English Premier League game at Old Trafford, the home crowd serenaded United's players with "ole" as they played one of their best performances of the season.

It marks a big change from the boos that rang around the stadium toward the end of former manager Erik ten Hag's reign.

In Amorim's third game in charge in all competitions since taking over last month, United produced their best performance under him, with Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee scoring two goals each.

"It is a nice result. It is important with a new coach and a new way of playing, we are still learning. We have to back up this performance," Rashford said.

Amorim is undefeated since taking over last month and United are ninth - four points off the top four.

While performances on the field are pleasing supporters, there were protests off it over increasing ticket prices.

A banner displayed both inside and outside the stadium read: "Stop exploiting loyalty."

CHELSEA RUN

Third-place Chelsea moved back level on points with second-place Arsenal after inflicting the latest loss on Aston Villa.

The goals came from Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer.

For Villa, it's eight games without a win in all competitions and a fifth defeat during that run.

Villa dropped into the bottom half of the standings in 12th place.

SPURS SLIP

Tottenham couldn't follow up last week's stunning victory against City with another win that would have seen them edge closer to the top four.

Brennan Johnson put seventh-place Spurs in front in the second half, but substitute Tom Cairney levelled the game before getting sent off late on.

- AP