Andy Carroll scored his first goals for Liverpool as Manchester City were thrashed 3-0 at Anfield on Monday.
Liverpool remain sixth but increased their lead over local rivals Everton to four points, while City, in fourth, lead Tottenham Hotspur by just three points.
Even worse for City, they lost forward Carlos Tevez to what looked a serious hamstring injury.
There were eyebrows raised when Liverpool paid 35 million pounds (57 million pounds) to land Carroll from Newcastle United, but he looked worth every penny against City.
He got the first and third, with Dirk Kuyt adding the second with a neat finish.
Liverpool began at a furious pace, and almost took the lead after seven minutes, Carroll’s first-time through-ball finding Luis Suarez, who shot early and drew a fine low tip onto the post from Joe Hart.
Five minutes later, they had the lead. Carroll won the ball back, and fed Raul Meireles, whose long-range effort was blocked.
The loose ball fell for Carroll, who smashed the ball with extraordinary power from 25 yards into the bottom corner.
The effort wasn’t that close to the corner, yet such was the purity of the strike that Hart had no chance: A memorable way to score his first goal for Liverpool - and similar to the goal he scored for Newcastle against Liverpool earlier in the season.
That was bad enough for City, but their night soon got much, much worse as Tevez was forced off with what appeared to be a hamstring pull. He now rates as a major doubt for the weekend’s FA Cup semi-final replay.
Liverpool’s assault continued. Kuyt slotted in a precise finish after some penalty-box pinball, before Carroll added his second, as Meireles’s cross glanced Aleksandar Kolarov and looped off the forward on its way past Hart.
From then on it was simply a matter of how many Liverpool would score. As their pace dropped it was possible to admire the performance of the 18-year-old debutant John Flanagan, who looked assured at centre-back.
They are far from the finished article, but the suspicion is that something very promising is brewing at Anfield.
