Champions left red-faced

Four-some City crush their newlycrowned successors

MANCHESTER CITY 4 LIVERPOOL 0

Manchester City gave Liverpool a belated reminder of their power as they thrashed their newly-crowned successors as Premier League champions 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium last night.

The inspirational Kevin De Bruyne began the rout from the penalty spot with Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden also on target before an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal.

It was an unexpectedly crushing and sobering defeat for the Merseysiders in their first match since dethroning City and claiming their first title in 30 years last week.

Liverpool started brightly and hit a post early on through Mohamed Salah but it was almost all one-way traffic thereafter, with City making light of the 23-point difference between the sides.

After losing only one other match all season and their long-term goal achieved, Liverpool could perhaps be allowed an off-night.

For City, however, with their everdemanding manager Pep Guardiola targeting more trophies, their season is still very much alive – and it showed.

The occasion was a strange one without the raucous atmosphere that would normally be expected of such a top-of-the-table clash and City giving their visitors a guard of honour.

The game started at a lively tempo with Gabriel Jesus putting the ball in the net only to be flagged offside and Salah testing Ederson with a sharp volley.

Andy Robertson blocked efforts from

Foden and De Bruyne before Salah went close to opening the scoring with a low shot against a post on 20 minutes.

That was as good as it got for Liverpool as City took charge after Joe Gomez was penalised for bringing down Sterling. De Bruyne stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick and calmly sent Alisson Becker the wrong way

Sterling doubled the lead 10 minutes later after Foden picked him out with a fine pass and his first touch wrong-footed Gomez, creating the space to clip the ball past Alisson.

City claimed a brilliant third before the break when De Bruyne flicked a Foden pass back into the 20-year-old’s path and he finished powerfully.

City showed no signs of easing up after the break and Sterling had another effort deflected wide before Virgil Van Dijk cleared off the line from Foden.

City made it 4-0 on 66 minutes when De Bruyne picked out an unmarked Sterling, who did everything right and looked to have claimed his second of the night although the final touch came off Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Riyad Mahrez thought he had claimed a fifth in stoppage time but his strike was ruled out for handball by Foden.