City, Chelsea on Liverpool's trail
Manchester City bounced back from two consecutive defeats to beat Southampton 3-1 on Sunday and cut the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to seven points before the top two meet on Thursday.
Pep Guardiola's champions needed to regain their footing after stumbling against Crystal Palace and Leicester, and did so with strikes from David Silva, Sergio Aguero and James Ward-Prowse's own goal at St. Mary's.
City took the lead when Bernardo Silva teed up David Silva to slot home unmarked in the 10th minute.
Alex McCarthy made a good save to keep out Aguero from point-blank range after good work by Sterling and City were made to pay for their profligacy when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg slammed home after robbing Oleksandr Zinchenko.
City regained the lead when Sterling's cut-back deflected against Ward-Prowse and in after 45 minutes and Aguero headed home another from Zinchenko's cross in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.
Earlier in the day, Chelsea kept up their pursuit of the top three with a 1-0 win away to London rivals Crystal Palace, thanks to a strike by N'Golo Kante early in the second half.
After a sterile first 35 minutes, Willian smacked the post with a swinging free kick and Ross Barkley hit the same upright soon afterwards with an acrobatic overhead effort.
Kante broke the deadlock in the 51st minute when his darting run into the Palace penalty area was spotted by defender David Luiz who fed the France World Cup winner to score from close range.
Liverpool, had on Saturday, crushed Arsenal 5-1 to move nine points clear at the top but manager Juergen Klopp still would not get involved in any talk of winning the title.
Second-placed Tottenham Hotspur's surprise defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers allowed Liverpool to extend their lead by three points.
Tiring of media questions about the title race, Klopp said he was wary of falling into the trap of talking up his team's chances with 18 games of the 38-match campaign remaining.
"I'm not the smartest person in the world but I'm really not an idiot. It's not important how many points you are ahead in December... If we drop three points the next headline will be: 'Are they nervous?'" the German told reporters.
Asked to reflect on 2018, which has seen Liverpool finish as Champions League runners-up and now go unbeaten in the league to become the title favourites, Klopp said it was "not too bad.
"The boys have made a big step but it's important to show it's a positive process. In 2018 I have nothing to moan about," he added.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund coach was pleased with his side's reaction when they went a goal down to Arsenal after 11 minutes but he was particularly satisfied with Mohamed Salah's decision to give a second-half penalty opportunity to Roberto Firmino.
The Brazilian had scored twice in the first half and, having never managed a hat-trick for the Merseyside club, Salah's gesture allowed Firmino to complete his triple.