Manchester City 3 : Liverpool 0

Manchester City moved to fourth in the Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 win over Liverpool at Eastlands thanks to a Carlos Tevez brace.

Gareth Barry, set up by James Milner on his City debut, also hit the net as Liverpool were well beaten, leaving them with only one point from their two opening games this season.

The home side were missing injured Mario Balotelli and Liverpool had Fernando Torres finally fit to play from the start. But it was City who dominated almost from the outset.

They went ahead after 13 minutes when Milner, only just arrived from Aston Villa, cut back a clever pass for Barry to side-foot home.

Liverpool took until 33 minutes to hit a shot on target, through David Ngog, and although a couple of Steven Gerrard efforts gave them hope it was always City in control.

Mancini's side went 2-0 ahead in the 53rd minute, this time the lively Tevez hooking home from close range after Micah Richards won a towering header from a corner.

That at least awoke Liverpool from their slumber, but goalkeeper Joe Hart's fine double save from Ngog and Torres after Gerrard hit a post seemed to knock them back further.

City made it 3-0 when winger Adam Johnson was clumsily brought down by Martin Skrtel for a clear penalty in the 68th minute - one which Tevez rifled home.

At the other end Liverpool replaced Torres with Ryan Babel but found goalkeeper Hart in confident form as he kept his second clean sheet in a row since ousting last season's first choice Shay Given from the City side.

It was a bad night for Liverpool, who left midfielder Javier Mascherano out of their squad - sparking further rumours that the Argentina star could be on his way to Barcelona.