Sergio Aguero became the highest-scoring foreign player in the history of the Premier League on Saturday but Manchester City’s 5-0 win over Liverpool was overshadowed by Sadio Mane’s sending off for a reckless challenge on goalkeeper Ederson in a one-sided tie at the Etihad Stadium.

Ederson, who was lying prostrate for a good seven minutes or so, was stretchered off and while sources said the young Brazilian only suffered superficial cuts to his face, Mane’s high challenge was certainly reckless and referee John Moss was spot-on in sending him off.

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City manager Pep Guardiola, without the services of his skipper Vincent Kompany, went for a 3-5-2 system, surprisingly opting for Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero to lead the line despite the duo not showing signs of linking well in the past.

The South American strikers, however, made light of their previous travails, to put Liverpool to the sword, albeit helped generously by the man disadvantage the visitors were under after Mane’s dismissal in the 37th minute.

After a cagey opening period, which saw Liverpool and in particular Mohamed Salah miss a few good chances, City took the lead via their Argentine hit-man.

Kevin De Bruyne was given time and space to pick Aguero out and as Mignolet rushed out to narrow the angle, the Argentine calmly rounded the Belgian keeper and finished into an empty net to notch his 124th Premier League goal.

Aguero overhauled Dwight Yorke, the Manchester United legend, in the process and things went from bad to worse for Liverpool when Mane’s high boot caught Ederson square in the face.

Claudio Bravo replaced the Brazilian, but fears over a lengthy injury lay-off were allayed when reports filtered in that Emerson had not sustained serious damage.

Jesus would crucially add a second for City before half-time, with De Bruyne providing a sterling assist yet again and the Brazilian got his brace soon after the interval after Aguero teed him up for a simple tap-in in the 53rd minute.

With one eye on their Champions League tie against Feyenoord in mid-week, Guardiola took off Jesus for Leroy Sane but if anything, the German’s introduction made it worse for the visitors.

City left-back Benjamin Mendy was sending in sizzling crosses one after another and it was only a matter of time before a Sky Blues player connected to add gloss to the scoreline. And that teammate was Sane in the 77th minute, stroking the Frenchman’s cross past a beleaguered Mignolet.

At 4-0, it already was City’s best performance against Liverpool since 1937 but Guardiola’s side were hungry for more and got their 5th when Sane sent in a thunderbolt from the edge of the box in the 91st minute.

Ederson returned to the pitch late in the second-half, to spark cheers from a crowd that were clearly enjoying the procession on the pitch.

City are topping the league with 10 points from four games, albeit temporarily since arch-rivals Manchester United can overhaul them should they win their game against Stoke later in the day.

And there are plenty of reasons why the Sky Blues faithful broke into a song near the end of the game.

Chiefly because their two-forward system showed real promise for the first time, but the fact that the whole team put in a near-faultless performance against a direct rival was hard to miss as well.

For Liverpool, it isn’t all doom and gloom as they can take solace from the fact that they were competitive until Mane’s dismissal and they don’t have time to brood for a Champions League tie against Sevilla looms large on the horizon.