Virgil van Dijk made Raheem Sterling 1v1 look easy during Man City 2-2 Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool kept themselves firmly in the Premier League title race by holding Manchester City to a 2-2 draw on Sunday.

If the Reds had lost at the Etihad Stadium, City would have moved four points clear at the top of the table.

But Liverpool remain just one point behind the champions after Sadio Mane‘s equaliser early in the second half.

City went in at the break 2-1 ahead thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus either side of a strike from Diogo Jota.

Pep Guardiola‘s side just couldn’t find a precious third in the second period, although they certainly had their chances.

, while Jesus inexplicably fired into the side netting instead of squaring the ball to De Bruyne for an easy finish from the penalty spot.

Raheem Sterling had a goal controversially ruled out by VAR for offside in the second half and the Englishman was also involved in another big incident after the interval.

The former Liverpool man was part of a sweeping counterattack by City and looked to be through on goal following a smart pass from De Bruyne.

But Virgil van Dijk stepped in to clear the danger and the way he dealt with Sterling was quite extraordinary.

Van Dijk matched the City winger for pace and was then able to win the ball for his team while keeping Sterling at bay like a naughty school child.

Take a look at footage of the 1v1 battle here…

Video: Van Dijk vs Sterling – there was only one winner…

Fan reaction

Trying to get the better of Van Dijk looks fun, doesn’t it?

In truth, Sunday wasn’t the former Southampton man’s finest outing and he even picked up a rare yellow card late on.

But he was far from poor at the Etihad and still managed to make Sterling – one of the world’s best players – look like a Sunday League footballer for a brief period of time.

Man City BOTTLE their Lead! Man City 2-2 Liverpool (Football Terrace)

Not bad for a slightly off day, Virgil.