Manchester City shut out the noise with a resounding 3-0 victory over 10-man Liverpool at Anfield, just over two weeks since news broke that they had been found guilty of breaking the Premier League's financial rules.
Goals from Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki restored Enzo Maresca's side to the top of the table, but each of them came after Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for a second bookable offence.
After such a long buildup to the game, the first half well and truly failed to live up to the drama that was swirling all around it.
In the absence of Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike, Lewis Koumas was handed his first Premier League start.
Alongside Víctor Muñoz, the Welshman was busy up front as Liverpool started by far the better team. City grew into the game but, in truth, it was a first half with little to shout about.
That all changed in the second period. As Anfield's atmosphere found a new lease of life, so too did the players in Red, as Koumas went close with the first real chance of the game, Gianluigi Donnarumma beating away his powerful shot after Bradley Barcola had slid him in.
With 60 seconds, Liverpool had tested the Italian twice more as he palmed away long distance efforts from Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister.
At the hour mark, however, the momentum turned completely on its head in the space of 10 minutes.
Haaland provided the first warning shot as he sent an excellent chance wide of Alisson's post, but it wouldn't take long for City to find themselves firmly in the driving seat, when Gravenberch -- booked for a foul on Elliot Anderson in the first half -- brought down Doku and was promptly given his second yellow.
Three minutes later, City had the lead as substitute Doku saw his shot deflected into the path of Haaland, who lashed the ball home from 10 yards out.
Three minutes after that, it was game over, as the excellent Doku cut inside Muñoz and sent a wonderful effort curling beyond Alisson into the top corner.
Just over 10 minutes from time, with Anfield still stunned, Cherki provided the pick of the bunch, stepping over Anderson's pass and getting it back from Gvardiol inside the box, before chopping back inside Jeremie Frimpong and rolling it under Alisson.
Manner of victory will do nothing to make City more popular
It is difficult to remember a fixture in English football history for which so much of the country was firmly behind one side.
After all that has gone on over the last couple of weeks, City entered this game viewed by most fans very much as the 'baddies,' with Liverpool assuming the role of de facto 'goodies.'
As a team that spent most of the game being called "cheats" by the home fans, City's reputation will have been done no favours by the moment which changed the game.
With Liverpool having been arguably the better side for an hour, Gravenberch tangled legs with Doku in midfield and was shown a yellow card which was perhaps even softer than the one he received in the first for a foul in a similar position on Anderson.
This was no scandal -- merely a run-of-the-mill, could-go-either-way decision. But it no doubt had fans all around the country cursing City once again.
City's status among other fans was damaged further by what happened next: they were really, really good.
Cherki's goal -- which came after a gorgeous dummy to let the ball roll to Gvardiol -- was absolutely glorious.
But it was the performance of Doku, introduced early in the second half to replace big-money summer signing Iliman Ndiaye, which highlighted just what an embarrassment of riches -- legally earned or otherwise -- Maresca has at his disposal.
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What does it all mean?
When was the last time a set of fans beaten 3-0 in their own ground ended the match by mocking the opposition with a rendition of "Going down, going down, going down?"
It was a bizarre atmosphere at Anfield on Sunday, lurching wildly between anger, nerves, hope and even apathy.
And who can blame the Liverpool fans who, once their team had been beaten, questioned what any of this meant anyway?
This was a glimpse into what the near future of the Premier League could look like: an excellent Manchester City side winning games, and their opponents reminding them that a points deduction, or even full expulsion, could render their title charge an afterthought.
It will remain that way until the appeal, and any resulting sanctions, are clear.
Match line-ups
Liverpool: Alisson, Araujo (Frimpong 75'), Jacquet (Gomez 88'), van Dijk, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Muñoz, Wirtz (Nyoni 66'), Barcola (Chiesa 88'), Koumas (Ngumoha 75')
Subs unused: Endo, Mamardashvili, McConnell, Tsimikas
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Guehi, O'Reilly (Gvardiol 66'), Anderson, Fernández (Bouaddi 80'), Ndiaye (Doku 56'), Cherki, Semenyo, Haaland (Allan 80')
Subs unused: Khusanov, Kovačić, Lewis, Rulli, Reis
Snapshot
Key match stats
Manchester City's 0.07 xG was their worst in a Premier League first half since March 2020 (0.06 vs Man United)
There were just two minutes and 37 seconds between Liverpool's red card and Manchester City's first goal
Erling Haaland has 27 career Premier League goals against 'Big six' clubs. Since he joined City in 2022-23, that is six more than any other player
Jérémy Doku was the first player to score at Anfield as a substitute in the Premier League since Rodrigo Muniz for Fulham in December 2024
The sequence for Rayan Cherki's goal had 45 touches and lasted 1 minute, 48 seconds from start to finish
Information from ESPN Global Research contributed to this story.