LIVERPOOL put both of its hands around the Premier League title race in dismissing Manchester City 3-1 at Anfield on Sunday.

The win boosts the Reds eight points clear of the field and nine points ahead of fourth place City, the two-time reigning Premier League champions.

Fabinho and Mohamed Salah scored first half goals for the Premier League leaders, and Sadio Mane salted away the result early in the second half.

Bernardo Silva scored a late goal for City, providing some drama for the final dozen minutes.

City manager Pep Guardiola refused to talk about the refereeing decisions, which had him careering along the touchline in rage during the match — but said he was proud of an “incredible” performance.

Guardiola was left fuming as City was denied two penalties for hand-ball shouts against Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the first leading to Fabinho’s superb opening goal.

The City boss was seen firmly shaking Michael Oliver’s hand and twice saying “Thank you so much” to the match referee after the game, though he wasn’t drawn in by questions on his sarcastic exchange.

“Ask the referees,” he told Sky Sports. “Ask Mike Riley and the guys with the VAR, don’t ask me. We tried to do our job — I would like to talk about our performance. It was so good. The way we played was awesome.

“What happened today is we showed that we are the champions.

“At this stadium, the way we played was incredible. I’m so proud of my team more than ever. We played against the strongest team in Europe, I’m so proud. We played so good.

“It’s one of the best performances we have played.

“We played in a way that showed why we are back-to-back champions. After seven months, if Liverpool win, I will be the first to congratulate them because we cannot deny how good they are.”

But, nine points off the top and finding themselves in fourth, a third consecutive league title looks a long way off for City.

“We need to grow and play away on big stages. The last 10, 15 minutes of the first half we played so good. The performance was so good.

“We tried. We never give up,”  Guardiola said.  (SD-Agencies)