Manchester City crushed Liverpool 3-0 in Pep Guardiola's 1,000th game in management, cutting Arsenal's advantage at the Premier League summit to four points.
Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday opened the door for the teams that have split the last eight titles between them, and City's best performance of the campaign resulted in a statement victory.
Erling Haaland had an early penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, who had conceded the spot-kick by catching livewire winger Jeremy Doku with his left knee.
But Haaland did find the net in the 29th minute, heading Matheus Nunes' right-wing cross home to cap a flowing move from the hosts.
Liverpool thought they were level when Virgil van Dijk nodded in from Mohamed Salah's corner, but the flag
was raised against Andy Robertson - who was deemed to be in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma - and that decision was confirmed by VAR.
And Van Dijk was involved at the other end three minutes into first-half stoppage time, as Nico Gonzalez's strike deflected in off the Liverpool captain.
Liverpool briefly threatened a fightback early in the second half, with substitute Cody Gakpo somehow turning Conor Bradley's centre over a gaping goal.
But their hopes of a comeback were extinguished by the outstanding Doku in the 63rd minute, as the Belgian skipped inside Ibrahima Konate before arrowing a shot into the top-right corner.
Dominik Szoboszlai tested Donnarumma from distance and Salah missed a good one-on-one chance, while Nico O'Reilly also went close on two occasions, as City eased over the line.
While City return to second in the table ahead of the international break, Liverpool are down in eighth, having already suffered five Premier League defeats this season.
Data Debrief: Pep celebrates landmark game, Haaland closes on century
Guardiola's 1,000th match in management was one to remember, with City dominating to hand the former Barcelona B, Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss his 716th victory in the dugout (388 with City).
There was no landmark moment for Haaland, who scored his 99th Premier League goal but came up short of his century on this occasion.
He has, however, scored in all three of his home matches against Liverpool with City, while his 14 goals in 11 matches this season are the second-most any player has ever scored at this stage of a Premier League campaign.
Haaland himself, with 17 goals in his first 11 games of 2022-23, holds that record.
Doku, though, was the star of the show, getting all three of his shots on target, while leading the way for touches in the opposition box (11) and completing seven of his 10 dribble attempts.
