Stoke City increased the pressure on Manchester United manager, Louis van Gaal, with a 2-0 win at the Britannia Stadium.
The Red Devils slumped to a fourth straight defeat as their winless run.
Bojan Krkic (19) put the home side in front following a defensive mistake by United midfielder Memphis Depay, with Marko Arnautovic (26) cracking in a second from 25 yards as Stoke took control before half-time.
United brought captain Wayne Rooney off the bench for the second half, but could not find a way past Potters keeper Jack Butland as Mark Hughes’ men closed out a comfortable victory over his beleaguered former club.
Manchester City had no such problems as they romped to a 4-1 win over struggling Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium to close the gap on leaders Leicester, who lost 1-0 at Liverpool.
The match was effectively over as a contest well before half-time as Raheem Sterling (13), Yaya Toure (17) and Wilfried Bony (22) all capitalised on poor defending from the visitors, who remain second bottom.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne (50) got the goal his performance deserved when sweeping in a fourth at the start of the second half, with Sunderland scoring a consolation through Fabio Borini (58).
Bony later smashed a penalty over the crossbar and City also saw returning captain Vincent Kompany last less than 10 minutes, limping off having come on as a substitute.
Leicester’s 10-game unbeaten run came to an end after a second-half goal from substitute Christian Benteke (63) at Anfield proved enough to give Liverpool a first win in five matches. Agency report
