Three Premier League talking points

Liverpool dealt a huge blow to Manchester City’s fading title hopes as the Premier League leaders powered to victory over the troubled champions.

The Reds are nine points clear of their nearest challengers Arsenal and Chelsea, while Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim extended his unbeaten start to three games with a rout of Everton.

AFP Sport looks at three talking points from the weekend’s action:

Liverpool flip script on Man City

Pep Guardiola could not resist reminding Liverpool fans of his six Premier League titles in the past seven seasons towards the end of his side’s latest Anfield nightmare.

The home crowd had taunted the Spaniard with cries that he would be “sacked in the morning” after Liverpool’s 2-0 win condemned City to a sixth defeat in seven games.

So often during the Guardiola era, Liverpool have had to settle for second best in title fights with City.

But they showed there is little doubt over who is top dog in the Premier League right now with another dominant display that merited an even more comprehensive scoreline.

An 11-point lead over fifth-placed City looks unassailable, even with 25 league games to go.

With 18 wins in 20 games under Arne Slot, Liverpool are giving no encouragement to their rivals that they can be denied a second English title in 35 years.

Capital gains for Arsenal and Chelsea

While Liverpool are firm favourites for the title, London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea are lying in wait for a slip from the leaders.

Arsenal were expected to be serious contenders after finishing as runners-up for the last two seasons, but a dismal streak of four games without a win put their hopes in jeopardy.

However, inspired by the return from injury of skipper Martin Odegaard and a superb spell from England forward Bukayo Saka, the Gunners have won successive league games to move into second place.

West Ham were demolished by a five-goal first half blitz in a 5-2 win at the London Stadium on Saturday, with Saka netting a penalty and providing two assists.

“We’ve been playing like that in the last few games, scoring a lot of goals. We’re in good form, confident, and we’re enjoying our football,” Saka said.

“We’ve built a lot of momentum. We’re feeling ready for it, so let’s go!”

Chelsea are level on points with Arsenal, but despite exceeding expectations the Blues remain coy about their title chances.

An impressive 3-0 win against Aston Villa on Sunday extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games.

Yet Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said: “We are not ready to compete with Liverpool, Arsenal and (Manchester) City, for many reasons.

“Just because we won today I’m not going to change my idea.”

Amorim revives Man Utd stars

Less than a month into his Manchester United reign, Ruben Amorim has already made his presence felt on the club’s misfiring forwards.

Before Amorim arrived from Sporting Lisbon to replace the sacked Erik ten Hag, United were among the Premier League’s lowest scorers.

But, on the evidence of his unbeaten three-game start to life with United, the demonstrative Portuguese coach has been quick to make a connection with Marcus Rashford, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund.

Rashford took just two minutes to score on Amorim’s debut in a draw at Ipswich, while Hojlund — goalless in his previous seven matches — was on target twice in his new manager’s first win when Bodo/Glimt were beaten in the Europa League on Thursday.

And on Sunday, Amorim watched on as Rashford struck twice and Zirkzee bagged a brace to inspire a 4-0 demolition of Everton at Old Trafford.

After going eight games without a goal, Rashford has three in his last three appearances, while Zirkzee netted for the first time since the opening game of the season against Fulham, ending a 17-game drought dating back to August.

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