Jeremy Doku and Ruben Dias send title warning to Arsenal after Liverpool thumping | OneFootball

Manchester City stars Jeremy Doku and Ruben Dias were full of praise for their side after a convincing 3-0 win over reigning champions Liverpool on Sunday evening.

City cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to four points as goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku secured a crucial triumph for the Blues over their main title rivals in Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th game in management.

The November international break comes at a good time for the rejuvenated City side, who started their 2025-26 campaign with consecutive defeats to Tottenham and Brighton in August but have collected 11 wins in 14 games in all competitions since September.

Guardiola’s side have gone from strength to strength since their 3-0 win over Manchester United in September and look set to keep up the pressure on league leaders Arsenal, who have set the early pace in the title race.

Jeremy Doku was by a country mile the best player on the pitch on Sunday as the 23-year-old tormented Liverpool’s defence throughout and marked his first goal of the season with a sumptuous strike from distance to put the game to bed after 63 minutes.

“In big games, it’s always more exposed, more beautiful,” Doku told Sky Sports after the win. “I’m just happy with the game and the performance today from the team. From the start, we prepared the game well.

“So I’m very happy. I’ve got great players around me, they push me every day because they believe in me, and that also gives me the feeling that I have to do more every game, and every day I want to improve. And having teammates like that makes it easier.”

Ruben Dias was rock-solid at the back for the hosts on Sunday and notably made a crucial interception to thwart Mohamed Salah in the second-half with Gianluigi Donnarumma sprinting away from his goal-line to tackle the incoming Egyptian.

“We live for games like this, and there’s no higher level than this kind of level. Very happy for Jeremy Doku, very happy for us, and very happy for everyone – because everyone did a great game,” Dias said in conversation with Sky Sports after the 3-0 victory.

“We need to push all of us; myself, everyone, Jeremy needs to push me, I need to push him – we need to push everyone! I saw the amazing game he did, I saw at the end the sprint Erling (Haaland) did at the end to compensate because Savinho was inside and we live off these things.

“We’ve been talking a lot about a rebuild since last season and there were many changes in the team, which is part of the process of any club and any team that wants to keep on winning.

“There’s maybe new faces because of the ones that left, but the quality stays the same and we keep on pushing. It’s still early in the season, feet on the ground, but we’re going to keep on pushing.”

Guardiola will be delighted with the manner in which Manchester City have recovered from their sluggish start to the season and there is no reason the Blues cannot build on their recent form and pip Arsenal to another Premier League title come next summer.