Manchester City turned up the heat in the Premier League title race by taking apart Fulham in the first-half to close the gap on leaders Arsenal to just three points.

The Gunners are looking over their shoulders before Thursday's trip to Brentford after Pep Guardiola's side backed up Sunday's last-gasp comeback at Liverpool by sealing a comfortable three points at Etihad Stadium.

Three goals in the space of 15 first-half minutes inflicted the damage against the Cottagers, who have now suffered three consecutive defeats.

The quickfire sequence of goals began when visiting midfielder Sander Berge miscued a clearing header into the path of Antoine Semenyo who poked home from close range for his fifth goal in eight game since signing for City in January.

The Ghanaian then turned provider just six minutes later, sliding a pass onto the run of Nico O'Reilly to double the lead with a deft finish over the advancing Bernd Leno.

And City sealed the points before half-time as Phil Foden found the run of Erling Haaland, who drilled home an unerring finish low into the bottom corner.

Marco Silva's side will be ruing a missed opportunity by midfielder Harry Wilson, whose low strike at 1-0 down was batted away by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Make no bones about it, City are well and truly in this title race.

Guardiola's side had gone four games without victory at the start of the year, but have responded by winning three of the last four, with the 2-2 draw at Tottenham - having been 2-0 ahead - the only slight blemish.

Victory over Fulham reinforced Etihad Stadium as a fortress for City, extending their unbeaten home run to 12 games and now taking 47 points from a possible 54 – it is the type of run that could prove crucial in the chase for the top-flight crown.

Forward Semenyo has settled in seamlessly since his £62.5m move from the Cherries and he left his mark on the game by scoring and providing an assist to take his tally to 17 goal contributions in the league this season.

City were in such a commanding position at the break that Guardiola could afford to take Haaland off after the Norwegian scored his 22nd league goal of the campaign and his eighth in as many appearances against Fulham.

Englishman Foden, meanwhile, was left on the bench at Anfield and though he started this game and looked sprightly in most parts, he failed to get on the scoresheet after seeing a low shot batted away by goalkeeper Leno, and has now gone 14 games without a goal.

The result means City continued their remarkable run in midweek games as they are now without defeat in 56 such encounters – a record which goes back all the way to 2010.

Fulham have hit a rut with consecutive defeats leaving them 12th in the table, and they never looked like getting out of this game from the first whistle.

The Cottagers' backline found it difficult to cope with City's high press and there was only pride to play for after conceding three times in the opening period.

The latest defeat means Portuguese boss Silva has now remarkably lost all 14 Premier League meetings as manager against City, having also taken charge of Hull, Watford and Everton in the top-flight.

Fulham's own record against City is a thoroughly wretched one, now suffering 20 straight losses against them in all competitions – the longest losing run against another side in English football history.

It could have been a different story had Wilson converted in the first half, but they were made to pay dearly for the miss.

Both of these two sides are in FA Cup fourth round action at the weekend.

Manchester City host locals Salford City on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 GMT), while Fulham travel to Championship side Stoke on Sunday (14:00).