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LIVERPOOL. — Premier League leaders Liverpool moved eight points clear with a fine 3-1 win over champions Manchester City yesterday.

Fabinho’s brilliant strike gave Liverpool a sixth-minute lead, but City were convinced they should have had a penalty seconds earlier for a handball by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Mohamed Salah quickly doubled the lead, and Sadio Mane added a third with a diving header after half-time.

Bernardo Silva pulled a goal back, but City are now nine points off the pace.

Bernardo Silva’s cross from the right was looking to find Sergio Aguero in the box but the ball hit Alexander-Arnold’s outstretched hand.

The penalty wasn’t given and City then found themselves behind just minutes later.

PGMOL, the body responsible for match officials in England, said a spot-kick wasn’t awarded because the “player’s arm wasn’t in an unnatural position’ and there was a “lack of reaction time”.

The Premier League also released a statement, saying: “the VAR checked the penalty appeal for handball against Trent Alexander-Arnold and confirmed the on-field decision that it did not meet the considerations for a deliberate handball”.

Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Brighton as “their best performance of the season”.

Midfielder Andreas Pereira and striker Marcus Rashford scored either side of a Davy Propper own goal to give United their biggest home Premier League triumph since August and move them into seventh place, their highest position for two months.

Rashford should have had another but inexplicably fired Daniel James’ cross wide of an open goal.

Brighton keeper Mat Ryan saved from James and Brazilian midfielder Fred, before denying what would have been a memorable solo effort from Anthony Martial.

Solskjaer added: “It was exhilarating and entertaining. How we didn’t end up with five, six or seven I don’t know.”

After their 3-0 win over Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday, it was the first time United had scored six in two games since March and extended a run of five wins in six games in all competitions since a 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

“If we don’t get confidence from this, I don’t know what to tell them,” added Solskjaer. The victory came at a cost, though, as midfielder Scott McTominay had to be carried down the tunnel on a stretcher after falling awkwardly and will have a scan on his injured ankle on Monday.

It was a familiar story for Brighton, who have never won at Old Trafford and never looked like breaking that sequence and allowed Rashford to restore the hosts’ two-goal cushion two minutes after Lewis Dunk’s header had given them hope.

Two years ago, respective managers Solskjaer and Graham Potter were operating in very different surroundings.

Solskjaer had been managing Molde against Kristiansund in the Norwegian League, while Potter was competing in Sweden’s equivalent for Ostersunds FK against Jonkopings Sodra.

Potter has been having a better time of it than Solskjaer this season but amid a number of disappointing results, the United boss was getting credit for the number of youngsters he has put his faith in this season.

Today was another example, with a side that with an average age of 23 years and 350 days was United’s youngest since a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in May 2017.

Eleswhere Aston Villa manager Dean Smith said his side paid for a lack of desire in their West Midlands 2-1 derby defeat at Wolves.

Villa, who remain 17th in the Premier League — three points above the bottom three — were second best for long periods against the hosts, with Trezeguet’s late consolation goal adding a flattering complexion to the scoreline.

And while Villa were without several regular starters, Smith said the media would not be able to “print” what he told his players after a disappointing first half.

“The game seemed bigger to them than it was to us,” Smith said.

“We were poor and they (the players) got a reminder at half-time that they must win their duels and compete. You can’t give any team a 45 minute head start and all I took from the first half was we were only 1-0 down. — MailOnline.