Manchester City picked up from where they left off before the international break with a 3-0 win over Everton to move back into second place in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola's side strolled to a 2-0 victory over Manchester United two weeks ago and were just as comfortable in Sunday's contest at the Etihad Stadium.
Raheem Sterling, making his 300th appearance in the English top flight, linked up with Joao Cancelo to fire City ahead after earlier having a penalty awarded and overruled.
Rodri scored an equally impressive goal from long range and Bernardo Silva then capped a win that moves City, who handed a full league debut to Cole Palmer, above Liverpool and within three points of leaders Chelsea.
Ilkay Gundogan looped a header on top of the crossbar after Jordan Pickford kept out Silva in a one-sided first half that saw Demarai Gray limp off for injury-hit Everton.
City were awarded a penalty for Michael Keane's apparent challenge on Sterling, but referee Stuart Atwell overturned the decision after a lengthy wait due to a lack of contact.
But the home side made the breakthrough on the brink of half-time thanks to Sterling's first-time finish after being picked out by a sublime outside-of-the-boot pass from Cancelo.
Rodri gave City some breathing space with a rocket drive from 25 yards that flew past Pickford into the top-left corner with 55 minutes played.
Guardiola's men were beaten 2-0 by Crystal Palace in their most recent home league match, but they made certain of a fourth top-flight win in five games through a simple finish for Silva late on.
What does it mean? City ease past out-of-form Toffees
The pressure was on City to pick up a victory against the Toffees following wins for Liverpool and leaders Chelsea on Saturday.
From the moment Sterling deservedly opened the scoring for the Citizens, an eighth successive league win against Everton – scoring 24 times in that run – was never in doubt.
Rafael Benitez's side are now without a victory in six Premier League matches, making this their longest winless run since January 2018 and heaping pressure on the Spaniard.
Sterling stars on landmark appearance
At 26 years and 348 days, Sterling became the fourth-youngest player to make 300 Premier League appearances and marked the occasion with a superbly taken half-volley.
Cancelo deserves credit for his assist, which was his sixth of the season in 18 outings – as many as he produced in his first two seasons with the club combined.
Shot-shy Everton offer little
City may be in good form, but defeat to Palace at the Etihad Stadium less than a month ago is proof that they can be beaten with the right gameplan.
Whatever tactics Everton deployed here did not work, with the Toffees registering just two attempts on target, neither of which truly troubled Ederson.
What's next?
City turn focus to the Champions League on Wednesday, with a point required at home to Paris Saint-Germain to guarantee a place in the last 16. Everton travel to Brentford in their next Premier League outing in a week's time.
Khadija Shaw’s late heroics lead Manchester City Women to 2-1 comeback win over Liverpool
Khadija Shaw continued her impressive form, scoring twice, including a dramatic 92nd-minute winner, to lead Manchester City Women to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the Women’s Super League on Sunday. The victory moved City to the top of the league table with 10 points from four matches.
Shaw, who has been instrumental for City this season, was the difference-maker once again as her late header sealed all three points for her team in a hard-fought contest at Anfield. City came into the game on a high, following up their recent win over Barcelona with another statement performance.
Liverpool opened the scoring with Olivia Smith's long-range effort, a right-footed strike from outside the box that gave the hosts the lead. City responded through Shaw, who leveled the match with a right-footed shot from the center of the box, finishing expertly in the top right corner after a precise through ball from Laia Aleixandri.
Shaw nearly put City ahead earlier when her left-footed shot struck the post, following another assist from Aleixandri. However, it wasn’t until injury time that Shaw finally completed the comeback. In the 92nd minute, Lauren Hemp delivered a perfect cross from the wing, and Shaw rose highest to head the ball into the bottom left corner, sealing a dramatic victory for City.
The win propels Manchester City to the top of the table with 10 points, though they have played one more game than Chelsea, Manchester United, and Brighton and Hove Albion, all of whom are on nine points after three games.
With Shaw continuing her red-hot form, City look well-positioned for a strong title challenge this season.
Manchester United 3-0 Tottenham: Skinner's side stay perfect in WSL
Manchester United made light work of Tottenham as Marc Skinner's side continued their perfect start to the 2024-25 campaign with a 3-0 win.
Skinner's team moved level on points with Chelsea at the top of the Women's Super League thanks to goals from Elisabeth Terland and Maya Le Tissier on Sunday.
Terland, a summer signing from Brighton, opened her account for United with a quickfire double at the end of the first half at Leigh Sports Village.
The Norway international drilled in after Celin Bizet hit the crossbar, and the latter subsequently teed up Terland's second five minutes later.
United captain Le Tissier settled the contest from the penalty spot following Ashleigh Neville's handball just before the hour mark.
The Red Devils thrashed Spurs 4-0 in their last competitive meeting - the FA Cup final in May - and are now unbeaten in 11 WSL matches against them.
Indeed, this was their ninth win over Spurs in the competition, with United having only beaten Everton on as many occasions.
Data Debrief: United's pristine record
As well as picking up three wins from as many WSL matches, United are yet to concede a goal this season - the only team to have shut all of their opponents out so far.
Skinner continued his impressive record against Spurs, and is now unbeaten in his last eight meetings with them.
It has been a poor start for Spurs, meanwhile. After beating Crystal Palace 4-0 in their opener, they are now winless in three (D1 L2). Only in 2020-21 (0) have Tottenham had one or fewer wins across their opening four top-flight matches of a campaign.
Cafu and Dida back Vinicius for Ballon d'Or
Vinicius Junior deserves to win this year's Ballon d'Or, in the opinion of two Brazil greats.
Cafu and Dida were part of the Brazil squad that won the World Cup in 2002.
Vinicius was unable to inspire Brazil to glory at this year's Copa America, missing their quarter-final tie against Uruguay due to suspension, but has been in fine form for Real Madrid over the past 12 months.
And with neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo involved in the voting, there will be a new winner of the Ballon d'Or for the first time since Luka Modric collected the 2018 award.
Vinicius is among the favourites, and Cafu feels the award should go to the Madrid star.
"Yes, he deserves to win it, he’s had a great season," Cafu told Stats Perform at Festival dello Sport in Trento, Italy.
"The numbers he had last season were incredible. He deserves it for what he's done and what he will do in the future."
It was a sentiment echoed by Cafu's former national team-mate Dida.
He told Stats Perform: "Vinicius is a great kid, a great player, a top player. He did very well last year, he scored goals, he gave assists, that's why.
"If he wins, it's because he deserves to win it because he did very well, we hope he manages to win this Ballon d'Or."
Vinicius has directly contributed to 42 goals for Madrid in all competitions since the start of the 2023-24 season, scoring 28 times and laying on 14 assists.
Robert Lewandowski is the only player to have played for a Spanish club across all of that time to have registered more direct goal contributions (49 - 31 goals, 18 assists).
No player in Europe's top five leagues comes close to matching Vinicius for attempted dribbles (366), though the 24-year-old ranks seventh for dribbles completed (141).
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