Manchester City reduced Liverpool's lead at the top of the English Premier League table to four points as they eventually found top gear to win 3-0 away to basement club Huddersfield Town on Sunday.

This was by no means City's most outstanding display of the season but, ultimately, goals from Danilo, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane ensured they did not trip up in the latest leg of their quest to keep the Premier League title-race alive.

Liverpool's captivating 4-3 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday ensured this was a crunch fixture for Pep Guardiola's side, yet any hopes Huddersfield could pull off a shock win never materialised.

The embarrassment of riches available to City manager Guardiola meant Gabriel Jesus, who had scored seven goals in three matches, dropped to the bench alongside David Silva while Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero returned to his starting line-up.

That depth of quality would be difficult for any side to counter, especially a team struggling as much as Huddersfield are at present.

They parted company with manager David Wagner on Monday, a mutual decision but a sad one for Terriers' fans who will always remember him as the man who not only secured promotion to the Premier League for the Yorkshire club but also kept them in the top-flight last term.

A repeat of that looks highly unlikely this season and this match pitted the Premier League's highest scorers against the lowest, with Huddersfield having netted just 13 times going into this encounter and having lost eight of their last nine league games.

Huddersfield made six changes for the game but did manage to match reigning English champions City early on.

After 12 minutes, Sterling felt he was denied a penalty after Terence Kongolo's heavy challenge in the box.

But City's wait to break the deadlock lasted just six more minutes as Danilo's fierce shot was deflected past Jonas Lossl by Christopher Schindler.

The goal was City's 100th of the season in all competitions, a statistic underlining their potent attack, but they were surprisingly lacklustre in the remainder of the first half

One clumsy Kyle Walker foul on Chris Lowe might have been worthy of a red card but the England international escaped with a booking.