Manchester City celebrated Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th game as a manager with a 3-0 win against Liverpool that lifted them back into the Premier League title race, while Nottingham Forest beat Leeds 3-1 to bolster their survival bid on Sunday.
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Erling Haaland missed an early penalty at the Etihad Stadium, but the City striker recovered to give Guardiola’s side the lead.
Nico Gonzalez increased their advantage before half-time and Jeremy Doku capped his man of the match performance with City’s third in the second half.
It was the perfect way for former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola to mark the latest milestone in a glittering 17-year career, including 716 victories.
Second-placed City are just four points behind leaders Arsenal, who conceded a last-gasp equaliser in their 2-2 draw at Sunderland on Saturday.
“My players gave me a good present with this performance against the champions. They all performed to the highest level,” Guardiola said.
“Proud to do it here in Manchester in front of my family, especially against Liverpool. I have a huge respect for that club.”
City’s seventh win in their last eight games in all competitions was a major blow to Liverpool’s hopes of retaining the title.
The troubled champions have lost seven of their last 10 matches in all competitions and trail Arsenal by eight points.
They are marooned in eighth place after the momentum from successive wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid dissipated into the rainy Manchester air.
“We struggled a lot in the first half. It was obvious they were better than us,” Liverpool boss Arne Slot said.
“We need to improve but I didn’t need this game to know this.”
Haaland squandered a golden opportunity to put City ahead in the 12th minute when VAR ruled Doku was tripped by Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili just inside the penalty area.
Mamardashvili made amends as he dived to his left to save Haaland’s spot-kick. But Haaland was unfazed by his miss and the Norwegian put City in front in the 29th minute.
At the climax of a flowing 20-pass move that carried City from deep inside their own half, Matheus Nunes crossed towards Haaland, who rose above Ibrahima Konate to head home from 10 yards.
It was Haaland’s 99th Premier League goal since signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
Haaland has scored 19 times in 15 games in all competitions for City this season, netting in all but two matches.
Virgil van Dijk’s headed equaliser late in the first half was controversially disallowed by VAR for offside against Andrew Robertson.
“It is obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made,” Slot said.
Gonzalez rubbed salt into their wounds in first half stoppage-time
Given time and space by Liverpool’s flat-footed defence, Gonzalez unloaded a long-range drive that deflected in off Van Dijk.
Doku delivered the knockout blow when he curled a superb strike past Mamardashvili from 25 yards in the 63rd minute.
FOREST BOOST
At the City Ground, Forest trailed to Lukas Nmecha’s 13th-minute opener. But Ibrahim Sangare equalised two minutes later and Morgan Gibbs-White headed home after 68 minutes before Elliot Anderson scored a stoppage-time penalty.
It was Forest’s first league victory since beating Brentford on the opening weekend of the season in August.
Nuno Espirito Santo was in charge of Forest then, before being sacked to make way for Ange Postecoglou, whose brief reign also ended with his dismissal before Sean Dyche took charge.
Second-bottom Forest’s maiden top-flight victory under Dyche’s management ended their nine-match winless run in the competition and lifted them to within one point of safety.
Aston Villa thrashed Bournemouth 4-0 to make it five wins from their last six league games.
Emiliano Buendia and Amadou Onana scored in the first half at Villa Park before Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo had a penalty saved by Emiliano Martinez after the break.
Second-half goals from Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen put the seal on Villa’s victory.
Newcastle’s miserable away form continued with a dismal 3-1 defeat at Brentford. Magpies forward Harvey Barnes was on target three minutes before the half-hour, but Kevin Schade equalised in the 56th minute.
Newcastle defender Dan Burn was sent off in the 73rd minute after conceding a penalty with a foul on Dango Ouattara.
Igor Thiago converted from the spot and the Brazilian forward struck again in stoppage-time.
Newcastle are languishing in 14th place and have failed to win an away league match in nine attempts since April.
Crystal Palace and Brighton shared a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park to leave both teams in mid-table.
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