Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez both scored twice as Manchester City turned in a convincing 4-1 win over Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
The holders restored their gap at the top of the table to six points over Liverpool, who have a game in hand, after Jurgen Klopp’s team had trimmed the lead down to three with a win over West Ham United on Saturday.
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Man City wasted no time opening the scoring early through De Bruyne, who calmly finished past David De Gea from a Bernardo Silva cutback on five minutes.
Jadon Sancho drew Manchester United level a little over 15 minutes later, cutting onto his right foot and curling a lovely shot inside Ederson‘s far post to make it 1-1.
However, the hosts retook the lead soon after when De Bruyne netted his second of the opening 45 minutes following a poor United giveaway that led to a scramble in front of De Gea to give Pep Guardiola’s side a 2-1 advantage at the half.
De Bruyne set up a deserved third for Man City from a corner kick, picking out Mahrez at the top of the penalty area for the Algeria international to smash home a brilliant first-time shot to double his team’s lead.
Mahrez scored his brace in second-half stoppage time with an unstoppable shot from a tight-angle after being played into the area by substitute Ilkay Gundogan to put the icing on the cake and take home a crucial three points in the title race.
Man City return to Champions League action on March 9 taking a 5-0 aggregate lead into a round of 16, second-leg match against Sporting CP, while Ralf Rangnick’s side, who dropped down to fifth place after the result, won’t play again until a March 12 Premier League test against Tottenham Hotspur.
City have 69 points from 28 games with Liverpool on 63 from 27 matches.