There was muffled silence around all bar one cacophonous corner of Old Trafford but nowhere was the noise as muted as Merseyside. For all of 53 minutes, Liverpool must have wondered if they would be the winners from this frantic Manchester derby and then the momentum swung Manchester City’s way and, perhaps with it, the destination of the Premier League title.

Has there been a more welcomed, a more celebrated enforced substitution in football than Leroy Sane’s introduction for the injured Fernandinho six minutes after the restart? But then when Pep Guardiola can call on reserves of this quality, the rest really must feel like they are knocking their heads against a wall at times. Manchester United, for one, will look at the way Sane helped turn this game on its head and realise this is not a hill they are trying to scale in search of a summit they have long abandoned but a mountain.

All is not lost for Liverpool just yet but they must have watched this and felt like yet another title is slipping through their fingers. No literal slip this time, though. If they do come off second best, it will simply be because they were up against a machine, one with 11 successive league wins to their name now.