Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League clash with between West Bromwich Albion.

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West Brom 0-4 Man City

Sunderland 1-4 Arsenal

Crystal Palace 2-4 Liverpool

Manchester City top on goal difference

CNN  — 

Manchester City has seized the opportunity to top the English Premier League after demolishing West Bromwich Albion 4-0.

Pep Guardiola’s men leapfrog over Arsenal which temporarily held first place after earlier piling the misery on Sunderland with a 4-1 victory at the Stadium of Light.

It is still a very close race with Manchester topping the league on goal difference.

The win over the Baggies is a return to winning ways for Manchester City – the club had gone six matches without a victory. The game also saw a return to form for Sergio Aguero with two goals from him in the first half.

The blue side of Manchester will be even more delighted that their neighbors couldn’t overcome a stubborn Burnley defense and came away with just a single point from the goalless draw.

Local rivals Liverpool joined the leading pack on 23 points with an emphatic 4-2 victory at Crystal Palace in the evening game.

And Tottenham squandered a chance to close on the league leaders after a 1-1 draw with current champions Leicester City.

More misery for struggling Sunderland

Sunderland’s drubbing leaves the Black Cats stranded at the foot of the English Premier League with just two points from 10 games.

The early fixture started well for Arsene Wenger’s men with an opening goal from Alexis Sanchez, though Sunderland managed to get back into the game through a Jermain Defoe penalty.

Wenger made a crucial substitution, bringing on Olivier Giroud who scored twice before another Sanchez strike secured all three points for the Gunners.

The Arsenal manager refused to take credit for the change, telling reporters that it was the quality on the bench that made his job easier.

“I think the performance overall was good,” he said. “We had a good first half. The second half was good in the first five, 10 minutes … suddenly it was 1-1 and again we had a great response.”

Sunderland boss David Moyes though the scoreline was harsh and praised the effort of his players.

He told reporters: “The message is the players are giving everything they can. You can see that today. It wasn’t for the lack of effort or the lack of trying. They played against a team with good quality.”

Elsewhere in the league, Middlesbrough beat Bournemouth 2-0 and Watford beat Hull 1-0.

Everton plays West Ham United and Southampton meets Chelsea in the Sunday games. Stoke and Swansea play Monday.