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Jurgen Klopp hailed a “deserved” Liverpool victory as they inflicted a heaviest-ever Etihad defeat on Premier League favourites Manchester City.

The Reds were in rampant form at the Etihad, racing into a 3-0 lead after little more than half-an-hour and sealing a 4-1 win late on through Martin Skrtel's stunning strike.

It was their biggest win at City since 1989 and the result lifts Klopp's men to ninth in the Premier League table, eight points off top spot.

More importantly, it underlines the progress the Reds have made under the German.

Having already won at champions Chelsea, this was a statement of intent at the home of a side that had started the day top of the league.

City had not suffered such a heavy home defeat since 2003, before they had moved to the Etihad.

“It's very satisfying,” said Klopp. “If it was the best (performance of the season), I'm not sure. But I don't compare games.

“It was very good. Not perfect, because we can defend better.

"But when you win 4-1 against Man City it is very good. It was deserved.”

Klopp refused to single out any one player from a performance that was impressive from front to back, but was happy with the contribution of Roberto Firmino, who picked up his first Reds goal and set up another two.

He also offered an update on the fitness of Philippe Coutinho, who was forced off midway through the second half holding his hamstring.

On Firmino, he said: “This is not a night to talk about one player. It (his performance) was not bad, of course!

“I know about his quality. He has trained without interruption, which is very important. We tried to bring as many players as possible that have trained over the last 12 or 13 days.

“Everybody could see that Roberto could have used one more chance maybe, but he played a good match!”

On Coutinho, he added: “I hope we got there early enough. It was a little bit of cramp. He felt something. I hope that's all it was, because everybody can see he's very important to us.

“He's in really good shape in this moment, and I hope we could react early enough.”

Victory here means Liverpool have lost just one of eight games since Klopp's arrival on Merseyside, with their performance levels improved markedly from earlier in the campaign.

“I don't know too much about that,” said the manager. “It's not important what we were before.

“We lost two weeks ago, and now we took these points back. That's very important.

"It's not important what is different, what is important is that we can see and feel a development. We need common experience that we can talk about, work with.

“We can do better than tonight, but if we start to believe in our own strengths, we can surprise ourselves. If you have quality, and we have quality, then you have to believe you can do it better.”

Klopp also paid tribute to the Liverpool fans, having expressed disappointment at seeing supporters leave the stadium after his side's last game against Crystal Palace.

“I said after that I didn't want headlines from that. So thank you!” he laughed.

“That was one moment but it was not the biggest problem. Tonight, I had no problem. If we could win a game like this at Anfield then I'm sure nobody would leave!

“We are responsible, as a team, that nobody should want to miss a second of our game!”