Manchester City came from behind to dismantle Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium and maintain the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal
Pep Guardiola's title challenge looked to be hanging by a thread when Mohamed Salah gave the away side an early lead but Julian Alvarez equalised before second-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish saw City surge to victory
The win narrowed the gap on Arsenal to five points at the full-time whistle and offered a timely reminder that Guardiola's team remain a potent force even without their top scorer Erling Haaland, who was watching - and cheering - his team-mates from the stands
Manchester City started brightly, controlling possession with John Stones alongside Rodri in midfield, but Liverpool's threat on the counter-attack was obvious
 Salah was ruthless in exposing the City defence with a fine finish after Diogo Jota sprung the offside trap
Salah was through again soon after but it proved to be the pivotal moment in the match
 Grealish intercepted his centre and was back down the other end moments later providing the assist for Alvarez's equaliser, the culmination of a sumptuous City move
It was a big moment for the Argentine, taking responsibility for leading the line in Haaland's absence, and it felt like a big moment in the title race too
These two teams have so often been contesting that title in recent seasons, but Liverpool's struggles did not take the edge off this one - duels between Grealish and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Manuel Akanji and Jordan Henderson, adding to the sense of occasion
Unfortunately for Liverpool, their form does not match that competitive spirit and the game soon went away from them in the second half
 It took De Bruyne just 53 seconds to put City in front after Alvarez found Mahrez in space out wide with a brilliant pass
Alvarez was involved in the third too, his left-footed shot blocked near the line by Alexander-Arnold but only as far as Gundogan
 The skipper had enough time to pick his spot and ease the tension around the Etihad Stadium
 City never relinquished control
All that remained was for Grealish to score himself, slotting beyond Alisson after collecting De Bruyne's pass inside
 The gap to Arsenal remains significant, , but so too is the quality of the reigning champions
Their hopes of a treble remain
 Liverpool finish the day in eighth
Manchester City had won their previous two Premier League matches in which Haaland did not start, although the last time that happened was in November - and he did come off the bench to score a late winner
 This time he was emphatically not required
That was largely down to Alvarez's impressive contribution
 He scored one and was involved in the next two City goals
 His finish was typical
 His distribution in the build-up to De Bruyne's goal showed another element to his game, expertly playing in Mahrez
There was the odd moment in the first half when the ball bounced around the box and one wondered whether Haaland would have been there to convert
 But the overriding emotion at the finish was that City might be more fluent without him
 Credit to Alvarez for that
"I was in the toilet! I felt sick all morning but I feel alright now!"It was a brilliant performance," Grealish told 
 "We knew it was going to be a tough game against Liverpool
 We wanted to start this last period of the season right
 We responded brilliantly to going behind and we were excellent in the second half
"In truth, Grealish was excellent throughout, tormenting Alexander-Arnold and even making a significant defensive contribution for his team
 This might just have been his best performance for City - certainly his best in what felt like a very big game
Could he help push City on to another Premier League title? "Arsenal are a great team," he continued
 "It is in their hands at the moment
 But we are going to do everything we can to chase them
 We have got to keep winning games
""Minute one to minute 93, it was a perfect performance," Guardiola told 
"When we conceded the goal, we were playing really well
 Of course, they are always a threat in the transitions, but we played really well in all departments
 It was one of our best performances in these seven years
"The players knew were weren't playing badly [when we went 1-0 down]
 We adjusted our process a little bit at half-time
 Of course we were lucky to score the second goal, but the game was so stable during 93 minutes
""Everyone could see the first half was OK, not only the result," said Klopp in his press conference after the game
 "City had more possession but that always happens when we play here and we scored a wonderful goal, could have scored a second one in a really good counter-attack
"Then, I would say this situation was rather unlucky, Kevin De Bruyne gets a touch, [the ball] rolls through Robbo's legs and then 1-1
 You come out of half-time, a ball in midfield, not even a challenge, we are too deep
 If you are too deep, too passive they use that, so that is 2-1
"The 3-1 super quick, after we have three or four one-on-one situations and we don't make a challenge and you saw what happened, we were not there, anyone, too passive, too open, too deep, too far away from anything
"Four performances were OK, the two midfielders, Hendo and Fab, worked a lot, Cody and Ali, and that is very difficult
 If you want to get something here, 14 or 15 players have to be on top of their game and that was not the case
"We had a situation for 3-2 when Robbo broke through but apart from that City could do what they wanted because the spaces were too big so we were lucky they only scored one more
"This was the start of an immensely busy April that will see  compete in eight more matches across three competitions
Next up is a trip to next Saturday, live on with kick-off at 5
30pm
 Then their Champions League quarter-final ties against  come either side of a home game with , which is also live on  on April 15
The FA Cup semi-final with comes four days before a potential title-deciding clash with , before a trip to in front of the  cameras rounds off a busy week
Meanwhile, you can watch four out of 's next six games on  - including their next two matches away at  on Tuesday night and against in eight days' time
 Trips to  and , as well as home games with and  are on Jurgen Klopp's agenda
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