Liverpool's forwards came out top in the battle of the Premier League's great entertainers as Manchester City's unbeaten start to the season was ended in a remarkable 4-3 defeat at Anfield.
Having won all but two of their league matches this season, Pep Guardiola's side found themselves 4-1 down midway through the second half and they looked well beaten before a late rally set up a nerve-jangling finale but the hosts held on for the win.
The draw was as short as 10/1 with Sky Bet in the final stages of the contest but the three points went to the Reds, who could be backed at 5/2 for the success before the game started.
The ending of City 30-match unbeaten run, stretching back to April, handed Manchester United the chance to cut City's lead to 12 points against Stoke on Monday.
One Sky Bet punter was left very disappointed by Liverpool's win after backing City for an unbeaten Premier League season at 125/1 before a ball was kicked.
An unbeaten league campaign for Guardiola's men was available at 9/2 with Sky Bet ahead of kick-off at Anfield and the online bookmaker are breathing a sigh of relief after a memorable success for Liverpool.
Having drawn level just before the break when Leroy Sane cancelled out Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's early opener, City were torn apart by three brilliant goals in nine minutes from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, although all were assisted by defensive errors.
Substitute Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan scored late on to raise hopes of an unlikely comeback but Liverpool held on to extend their own unbeaten run to 18 matches, their longest sequence since 2008.
City are still huge odds-on favourites at 1/66 to land the Premier League title and Liverpool are 1/6 for a top-four finish.
The two biggest winning RequestABets for Sky Bet punters both landed at 66/1...
- 66/1 - Salah to score, both teams to score in both halves, 4+ corners each team, Nicolas Otamendi to be carded and 40+ match booking points
- 66/1 - both teams to score in both halves, 2+ corners each team in each half and 20+ booking points for each team
Post-match reaction
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain felt Manchester City's tactics played into Liverpool's hands as the Reds handed Pep Guardiola's side their first Premier League defeat of the season.
"We know they like to play out from the back and they are really good at it, but at the same time we thrive when teams try and do that, it can play into our hands," Oxlade-Chamberlain said on Sky Sports.
"Second half when we went on a bit of a rampage for five or 10 minutes that showed."
The loss was runaway leaders City's first in 23 league games this term.
"It's a nice statement to make," said Oxlade-Chamberlain. "They've been brilliant all year.
"We knew we had what it took if we were 100 per cent at the races to get three points today."
Mane admitted the nerves were jangling at the end, though, as City fought back to within one goal.
"It was not easy for us - 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, you are a bit scared, but we worked as a team and I think we deserved to win today," he said.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for his side's display, claiming they made City look "insecure".
"That is how football can look if two teams combine quality, skills with attitude," he said.
"I think we deserved the three points, but they deserved that it was not as clear as it was five minutes before the end. I never thought the result would be 4-1, even when we were 4-1 up.
"I'm really proud of my boys that we could perform like we performed tonight."
Klopp insisted he "was not worried" about City's fightback, as his focus was on the positives in his own side's display.
"I'm really interested in the performance and we showed a few signs tonight, very important signs," he said.
"Not only second half, but especially second half, we played pressing from another planet.
"It looked like they were insecure, but it was all forced by us. It was really brilliant.
"It is so difficult. If it was not that difficult a lot more teams would do it, so I was really happy about that."
Guardiola was gracious in defeat, but admitted his side had to show greater defensive resilience after falling 2-1 down.
"Congratulations Liverpool for the victory," he said.
"In the second half we started much better (than in the first), the game was in our hands, we had one or two chances on the counter-attack and the finishing was not good.
"And after 10,15 minutes the 1-1 to 4-1 - in football you can concede one goal, but you have to be stable and in that moment we were not solid enough.
"After the second goal they scored the third and fourth and after that it's always a complicated recovery."
