Manchester, March 7 (IANS): Premier League champions Manchester City produced a stunning display to beat arch-rivals Manchester United 4-1 and restore a six-point advantage over Liverpool at the top of the table.
Two goals by Kevin De Bruyne ensured City edged a keenly-contested first half, going 2-1 up. Pep Guardiola's side shifted through the gears in the second-half. Riyad Mahrez added two more goals to his tally in the second period, with Guardiola's men utterly dominant and perhaps a little disappointed not to have won by an even bigger margin.
With less than five minutes on the clock, Kevin De Bruyne provided Manchester City with a superb start. Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva combined well on the left of the United box, with the Portuguese then squeezing a low cross into the box where De Bruyne arrived to sweep the ball past David De Gea and score his 50th Premier League goal in the process.
However, United weren't able to fight back and City secured all three points in the second half.
Guardiola's side had a couple of early chances blocked following the break. First De Bruyne was closed down after City had won the ball in the United box, then Silva had a strike stopped by United putting their bodies on the line.
Going forward Fernandes looked to create a leveller for United, having done well down the flank his cross was too close to Edision. Around the hour mark, Harry Maguire had his name taken following a strong challenge against fellow skipper De Bruyne.
City extended their advantage when Mahrez scored from a set play on 68 minutes. A deep cross was met on the half volley by the Algerian forward on the edge of the 18-yard-box. The ball flicked off Maguire on its way to goal, giving De Gea no chance of saving it. Moments after the restart, substitute Marcus Rashford tried to get one back. Having found himself alone in the box, he took on three players but was just unable to unleash the shot before the hosts managed to clear the lines.
Ten minutes from time, Joao Cancelo tried the spectacular on the volley with an overhead kick. His connection sent the ball back across goal and heading towards the net -- but De Gea's diving stop was equally as impressive to keep it out.
In stoppage time, Mahrez added his second and City's fourth when a tight offside call went in his favour having struck from close range. With this victory, Man City moved to 69 points from 28 matches with Liverpool at 63 from 27 matches. Chelsea are at 53 points from 26 matches and Arsenal at 48 from 25 matches.
Arsenal moved into the top four in the Premier League with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Watford on Sunday in a roller-coaster of a game at Vicarage Road.
Martin Odegaard (5th min), Bukayo Saka (30th min) and Gabriel Martinelli (52nd min) scored for Arsenal while Juan Hernandez (11th min) and Moussa Sissoko (87th) scored for Watford.
With this win, Arsenal now have 48 points from 25 matches, trailing Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
After the drama of their last Premier League clash some 10 days earlier against Wolverhampton Wanderers in which they scraped through to a 2-1 win, Mikel Arteta would have been expecting a more sedate affair on Sunday.