Manchester City eased back to the top of the Premier League when Raheem Sterling struck twice to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Sterling had already missed a glorious chance before opening the scoring on 15 minutes as City rarely looked troubled despite having failed to beat Palace on their two previous meetings.
Another cool Sterling finish looked to have ended the game as a contest 27 minutes from time.
However, Pep Guardiola's men had to see out a nervous finale to ramp up the pressure on Liverpool when Luka Milivojevic's free-kick gave Palace hope of a dramatic comeback.
Instead, City broke to seal the three points on the counter-attack when the outstanding Kevin de Bruyne teed up Gabriel Jesus to make it 3-1.
Captain Vincent Kompany, Benjamin Mendy, de Bruyne and Leroy Sane returned among four changes and City quickly settled into total control of the game.
Sterling should have opened the scoring on 11 minutes when, after a patient build-up, David Silva got to the by-line and picked out the England international who somehow sliced wide with an open goal at his mercy from close range.
However, Sterling redeemed himself in emphatic fashion just four minutes later.
The results: Premier League: Sunday: Crystal Palace 1 (Milivojevic 81) lost to Manchester City 3 (Sterling 15, 63, Jesus 90). Saturday: Manchester United 2 (Pogba 19-pen, 80-pen) bt West Ham 1 (Anderson 49).
Bundesliga: Sunday: Hoffenheim 2 (Amiri 30, Nelson 76) bt Hertha Berlin 0; Duesseldorf 1 (Lukebakio 89-pen) lost to Bayern Munich 4 (Coman 15, 41, Gnabry 55, Goretzka 90+2). Saturday: Dortmund 2 (Sancho 17, 24) bt Mainz 1 (Quaison 83).
La Liga: Sunday: Sevilla 3 (Munir 26, Sarabia 59, Vazquez 64) bt Real Betis 2 (Lo Celso 55, Tello 82); Real Valladolid 2 (Navarro 30, Unal 69-pen) drew with Getafe 2 (Arambarri 14, Vidal 90+6-pen); Athletic Bilbao 3 (Williams 2, 50, Garcia 72) bt Rayo Vallecano 2 (Lopera 45, Tomas 85)Real Sociedad 1 (Juanmi) drew with Eibar 1 (Jordan 85). Saturday: Atletico Madrid 2 (Griezmann 42, Morata 74) bt Celta Vigo 0.
Serie A: Sunday: Torino 1 (Zaza 52) drew with Cagliari 1 (Pavoletti 75); AC Milan 1 (Kessie 79-pen) bt Lazio 0; Fiorentina 0 drew with Bologna 0; Sampdoria 2 (Defrel 3, Quagliarella 53-pen) bt Genoa 0; Sassuolo 0 drew with Parma 0. Saturday: Roma 1 (Dzeko 67) bt Udinese 0 .
